Iridana incredibilis, the incredible sapphire gem, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, southern Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.[2] The habitat consists of forests.
| Iridana incredibilis | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Iridana |
| Species: | I. incredibilis
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| Binomial name | |
| Iridana incredibilis (Staudinger, 1891)[1]
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| Synonyms | |
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Adults are on wing in September, November and January.
Description in Seitz
editIn the male the greenish-blue, strongly reflecting colour of the forewing above covers the areas 1 a, 1 b and the discal cell, the greatest part of the areas 2 and 3 and about half of the areas 4 and 5, as well as the whole hindwing except the costal, proximal and distal margins which are black in 1 to 2 mm width. In the female the forewing is above black and only in the basal part of the areas 1 b to 3 broadly blue; on the hindwing the margins are 3 mm broad black. The under surface of the forewing is dull black with three light, Isabel-coloured spots in the discal cell, behind the latter and in the anal angle, with a grey costal margin and a light apical part intensely speckled brown, semicircularly bordered with greenish quite at the apex; posteriorly the narrow greenish semicircle is continued as a narrow,violet distal-marginal stripe. Very peculiar is the under surface of the hindwing showing a light brownish-greyground-colour very densely speckled with dark, in the distal part with dark brown; through the middle runs a rather broad, grey transverse band with a dull silvery lustre in a certain light, more or less bordered with black at its margins and showing in the middle a reniform macula surrounded by black; all these black margins are more or less bordered with a brownish red; immediately in front of the margin there is a very narrow,linear transverse band with a dull silvery grey lustre, proximally bordered with black, outside before the silvery grey fringes very finely with red-brown.[3]
References
edit- ^ Iridana at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
- ^ "Afrotropical Butterflies: Lycaenidae - Subtribe Epitolina". Archived from the original on 2018-11-23. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
- ^ Per Olof Christopher Aurivillius in
Seitz, A., 1925 Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge,Band 13: Abt. 2, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
External links
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