| Aetolus Stripestreak (Arawacus aetolus (Sulzer, 1776)) |
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Scientific name: Arawacus aetolus (Sulzer, 1776) Common name: Aetolus Stripestreak French name: Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Rhopalocera Family: Lycaenidae Subfamily: Theclinae Wingspan: Biotope: Woodland edges, road sides, river banks. Geographic area: Central America and north of South America. Flight time: All year round. Number of generations : Caterpillar: Host plant: |
The Arawacus genus includes 18 species and is only observed in the Neotropical region. Arawacus aetolus has a white upper side with a broad pale brown border on the external edge of the fore wings and a thinner one on the external edge of the hind wings. Males show a large black androconial patch on the centre of the fore wings. Each hind wing bears a very thin tail. The underside of the wings is white with rather wide dark brown stripes radiating from the anal angle of the hind wings to the costal edge of the fore wings. There is an orange submarginal border on the hind wings and on half of the fore wings. There is also an orange stripe close to the inner edge of the hind wings. The anal angle of the hind wings is spotted with black and white. This area looks like a head and the tails look like antennae when the butterfly is landed. This particularity helps butterflies of the Arawacus genus to escape from predators which see their potential prey taking off in the opposite direction that they were thinking. Further south and down to Paraguay, Arawacus aetolus is replaced by Arawacus separata which is very similar. |
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I have shot this picture at Roura at Camps Patawa. The head is on the right side but birds may think that it is on the left side. |
André Bon November 2014