Skipper

[John Shuey]

You can take it a step further and say its in the Urbanus "proteus group"
which at least eliminates about 50% of the other Urbanus species.

Sticking my neck way out - it has a character that is unique to U. proteus
itself - that's the way the green "fades out" towards the margin of the
hindwing.   All the other described species in the "proteus group" have a
sharply defined edge to the iridescent green.   However, this is a character
that is hard to interpret using a bullet lamp on a pinned bug.  So - the
lack of an edge to the green could simply be a photographic artifact.

Do you have a photo of the ventral wing surfaces of this specific bug (as
opposed to a different bug [but seemingly the same species] photographed
perhaps minutes later - many of the "proteus group" species are very common
and fly together (perhaps using the same early successional hostplants??).
There are better characters below.

John
_________________
John Shuey
Director of Conservation Science
Indiana Office of The Nature Conservancy



-----Original Message-----
From: Taxacom Discussion List [mailto:TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG]On Behalf Of
Daniel Janzen
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 3:08 PM
To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
Subject: Fwd: Skipper


Urbanus.  After that, forget it.  Dont believe anything you hear
unless it is from Dr. Urbanus.


>X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
>Importance: Normal
>Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 2003 00:19:18 +0200
>Reply-To: "Joseph M. Torres" <joseph at FCSF.ORG>
>Sender: Taxacom Discussion List <TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG>
>From: "Joseph M. Torres" <joseph at FCSF.ORG>
>Organization: FCSF
>Subject:      Skipper
>To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
>Status:  O
>
>Dear Taxacomers,
>
>I am trying to identify this skipper from the southwester coastal region
>of the province of Esmeraldas (Ecuador).
>
>http://www.colibri.ws/forum_colibri/showthread.php?s=
><http://www.colibri.ws/forum_colibri/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62>
>&threadid=62
>
>Thanks again for your help.
>
>Joseph Torres