FOUR-SPOTTED SAILOR Dynamine postverta postverta FAUNA PARAGUAY

Dynamine postverta postverta (Cramer [1799])
ENG: Four-spotted Sailor, Eyespotted Drop
ESP: Gota ocelada
JIZ: One of the "blue sailors". Forewings triangular with relatively straight costa, and rounded apex and tornus. Hindwing rounded. Poses with wings folded in sunny areas, sometimes rubbing the wings together. Attracted to dung and enriched muddy surfaces. Can be approachable. Sexually dimorphic. FLI: Fluttery but purposeful within 1m of the ground.
UPP: M (Fig 1&2) Forewing mostly greenish-blue with even broad black outer margin. Four irregulary-shaped and variable black patches arranged in a "four on a dice" pattern on forewing. Hindwing similarly greenish-blue with even black outer margin and two squarish or triangular blotches continuous with the anterior margin of the wing. F (no image) Forewing dark brown with at least seven (sometimes eight) large white blotches, the innermost of which is streak-like and continuous with the basal band of the hindwing when the wings are opened. Hindwing dark brown with three thin white transverse bands at approximately equal intervals, the outermost somewhat curved following the shape of the outer margin.
UND: M/F (Fig 1) Underside of forewing mostly brownish-black with at least seven large white blotches and a thin comma situated close to the apex. Basally the costa is tinged lilac and there is a short creamy streak located basally and submarginally. Underside of hindwing mostly white with chocloate-brown vertical basal streak and a double chocolate medial streak that converges towards the upperpart of the wing so that it encloses an elongated white triangle. A third vertical stripe located post medially is similarly brown and forms the "frame" of the "sideways spectacles". The "eyespots" in this species are disgnostically clear and well-formed with huge black "pupils", thinly bordered with a yellow "iris" which in turn is enclosed by a chocolate-brown outer edge. The effect is highlighted by a white semi-circular submarginal band. The outer margin of the hindwing is chocolate-brown with a thin white medial line.
BOD: M/F No information.
MMT: A small Biblid, but relatively large for a Dynamine. No information for Paraguay. Canals (2003) gives a CL of 19-22mm.
SSP: Dorsally this is the most distinctive of all the "blue sailors" males diagnostically possessing conspicuous black spots and reduced black margins. Ventrally the well-defined "eyespots" surrounded by a thin yellow ring and double (divergent) medial vertical band across the hindwing are unique to this species. The underwing pattern is perhaps closest to Dynamine aerata but note the single, not double medial band on the hindwing of that species, the less well-defined eyespots and fewer white blotches towards the apex of the forewing. Female Dynamine artemesia has a quite different underwing but vaguely similar upperwing. Note that that species has a maximum of five white spots on the forewing (at least seven in postverta) and two white bands across the hindwing (three in postverta).
ABU: Frequent in suitable habitat.
HAB: Associated with humid forest edge, clearings and gardens in humid areas.
HOS: Plants in the family Euphorbiaceae including Dalechampia, Platygyna and Tragia. (Canals 2003).
Citable Reference: Smith P (2007) FAUNA Paraguay Online Handbook of Paraguayan Fauna Butterfly Species Account 29 Dynamine postverta
Last Updated: 4 December 2007.
References:
Canals G 2003 Mariposas de Misiones - LOLA, Buenos Aires.
ECOSARA Biodiversity Database