Morpho sulkowskyi

Sulkowsky's Morpho
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Division: Rhopalocera
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Tribe: Morphini
Genus: Morpho
Species: M. sulkowskyi
Binomial name
Morpho sulkowskyi
(Kollar ,1850)

Sulkowsky's Morpho (Morpho sulkowskyi) is a Neotropical butterfly. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Habitat

Morpho sulkowskyi is a Tropical Andes cloud forest specialist (above 800 to 1,500 meters as high as 3500 meters). Morpho sulkowskyi and Morpho lympharis Butler, 1873 are the sole Morphos occupying this habitat.

Taxonomy

Morpho sulkowskyi and Morpho lympharis may be conspecific.There are several subspecies and many forms have been described.

Subspecies

Ecozone

Neotropical ecozone

Similar species

Very similar to,and maybe conspecific with Morpho lympharis.

Colors

Iridescent colors of Morpho sulkowskyi are caused by the specific nanostructures on its wings (SEM images at the bottom).[1]

The colors of a Morpho sulkowskyi is white with a holographic shine to them.

References

  1. Potyrailo, Radislav A.; Bonam, Ravi K.; Hartley, John G.; Starkey, Timothy A.; Vukusic, Peter; Vasudev, Milana; Bunning, Timothy; Naik, Rajesh R.; Tang, Zhexiong; Palacios, Manuel A.; Larsen, Michael; Le Tarte, Laurie A.; Grande, James C.; Zhong, Sheng; Deng, Tao (2015). "Towards outperforming conventional sensor arrays with fabricated individual photonic vapour sensors inspired by Morpho butterflies". Nature Communications. 6: 7959. doi:10.1038/ncomms8959. PMC 4569698Freely accessible. PMID 26324320.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Morpho sulkowskyi.


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