292 OPSIPHANES. By H. Fruhstorfer. 



Group Opoptera Aur. 



The species of this interesting little group strongly recall Satyrids in their thin, delicate wings. The genus, 

 or rather subgenus, as which its author introduced it, was formerly united with Opsiphaiies, but is rightly 

 separated on account of the broader precostal cell of the hindwing. Otherwise Opoptera differs from typical 

 Opsiphanes also in having the cell of the forewing strikingly broad and that of the hindwing short, relatively 

 narrow distally. The precostal cell of the latter is longer than broad. Head moderately small, with strongly 

 rounded, naked eyes and hairy frons. Tongue strong. Palpus beneath with bristly hairs, extending little 

 beyond the head. Antenna considerably longer than in the preceding, in the ^ often more than half the length 

 of the costa, little thickened at the end. Thorax not so robust as in Opsiphames, the whole build sometimes 

 strongly Satyrid; forewing with rounded apex and large, broad cell, reaching to the middle of the wing. Costal 

 and subcostal separate throughout their whole course, the latter 5-branched, branches 1 and 2 arising before, 

 3 behind the end of the cell, 4 and 5 short-stalked. Hindwing ellipsoid, with slightly undulate distal margin, 

 lower median vein with a scent-pouch. Abdomen slender and rather long. 



Concerning the early stages nothing is known. The imagines with one exception (hassus) are true 

 • forest butterflies, which flutter about with a weak flight near the ground, lead a shy and sluggish existence in 

 the bamboo thickets and by preference keep near the water-courses. Some of them are certain to be met 

 with where fermenting sap exudes from holes bored by insects in the trees of lower growth. At such places they 

 sometimes sit for hours with the wings closed and it is in this way that they are most easily caught. They 

 are very local and three out of the six known species inhabit southern Brazil. 



Sect. I. 



Apex of the forewing angled or rounded, hindwing of the cj wth a hair-pencil in the cell or a bni.sh-shaped 

 haii-tid't at the submedian. 



0. aorsa recalls Indian Lethe and Zophoessa in the tailed hmdwing and the upper surface is distinguished 

 by very narrow bands and by a purj)le gloss which covers these bands in their marginal part. Previously only 

 known from Brazil, aorsa was recently discovered also at the sources of the upper Amazons, so that there are 

 aorsa. now four local races to record: aorsa Godt. (63 a), the type of which probably came from Rio de Janeiro, extends 

 southwards to Rio Grande do Sul. It is everywhere rare, and I cannot remember to have foiuid it on the banana- 

 bait which was so commonly visited hy Das i/ophthalma, Caligo, Er ypluinis reevesi and other species of Opsiphanes. 

 It is a species of the larger forests, never leaving the shade of their tall trees. Moreover its period is very 

 short (February and March) and in the course of a year one probably meets with scarcely more than half a dozen 

 examples, and even those are mostly damaged on account of their delicate wings. Forewing in the (^ with 

 pale ochre-yellow oblique band, beginning beyond the middle of the inner margin and, sometimes slightly 

 interrupted, running to the anal angle. In the apex small white spots. Hindwing with distinct marginal mark- 

 ings. Of the narrow bands crossing the cell of tlie forewing the proximal is as a rule dull whitish or brown, 

 interrupted in the middle, the distal complete, of silver-white colour, reaching to the middle part of the median. 

 Viiura. In ab. litura Fruhst., from Espiritu Santo, the marginal markings on the upperside of the hindwing have be- 



fuscata. come brown-violet. — fuscata. Stich. is the same shape as the tyjjical subspecies but considerably smaller, 

 hindwing with more rudimentary tails. (^ ; above black-brown, the bands near the apex and distal margin 

 of the forewing strongly shaded with brown, particularly in the posterior part quite blurred. Hindwing only 

 showing cpiite indistinct light spots at the margin. Beneath the light angled band in the distal area has almost 

 entirely disappeared, only a small yellowish white spot at the costal margin and another in the anterior angle of 

 the lower median cellule persisting, together with a few whitish sj^lashes in place of the anterior part of this 

 band. Submarginal line at the distal margin, and correspondingly also the boundary of the dark part of the 

 wing adjoining the distal area, strikingly dentate. Hindwing considerably darker than in tyi^ical aorsa, parti- 

 cularly in the basal and hindmarginal areas, the ground-colour there strongly tinged with violet. At the border 

 of the distal margin a row of light, shallow lunular spots on the dark brown undulate line stands out conspi- 

 cuously against the darker marginal dusting. In the $ the upper surface is vaguely rust-red, forewing with 

 narrow light ochre-yellow band, similar to that of the tjrpical subspecies, in which, however, the branch 

 running anteriorly (towards the apex) from the top of the obtuse bend in the distal margin is lacking. Distal mark- 

 ings of the hindwing weak, faint, in the anal angle entirely disappearing. From the Upper Amazon (Manaos). 



Iiiliira. — In hilara Sikh., from Ecuador and Peru, the ground-colour is darker, above deep black-brown, the band 

 of the forewing deep yellow, in the anal part notched proximally at the veins. Hindwing above unicolorous 

 dark with white fringes, not distinctly spotted before the distal margin. Beneath the transverse band in 

 the cell of the forewing is broken up into spots. Forewing and basal area of the hindwing striated with milk-white. 



arsippc. 0. arsippe has 2 geographical subspecies, arsippe Hopff. Oblique band of the forewing ochreous, almost 



as in aorsa, but darker, posteriorly strongly angled, otherwise smooth, distally somewhat broken. Of the an- 

 terior three small white spots in the apical area the middle one is placed somewhat distally; a fourth appears 



