Curetis metayei

Curetis metayei Inoué & Kawazoé, 1965


♂, 1960.04.03, Dinh Quan, Dong Nai, Vietnam. Paratype (photo by K.Saito)		♀, 1961.01.29, Trang Bom, Bien Hoa, Vietnam. Paratype (photo by K.Saito)

♂, Lam Dong, Vietnam. (photo by K.Saito)		♂, Lam Dong, Vietnam. (photo by K.Saito)

♂, Khammouan, Laos. (photo by H.Onodera)		♀, Bolikhamxai, Laos. (photo by K.Saito)

♀, Khammouan, Laos. (photo by H.Onodera)		♀, Bolikhamxai, Vietnam. (photo by H.Onodera)

♂, 1962.03.25, Dinh Quan, Dong Nai, Vietnam. Paratype (photo by K.Saito)		♂ genitalia, Lam Dong, Vietnam. (photo by K.Saito)

ON : Curetis tonkina metayei Inoué & Kawazoé, 1965
OD : Nature Life Southeast Asia 4:343-345.
figs.51(HT,♂).52(HT,♂Un),53(PT,♀),54(PT,♀Un).
TL : Dinh Quan, Dong Nai, S.Vietnam. (♂)

Distribution : N.E.Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam.

Type Materials Information

Holotype ♂, 25.Mar.1962. Dinh Quan, Dong Nai, S.Vietnam.
Paratypes ( 2♂ 1♀) :
1♂, 03.Apr.1960. Dinh Quan, Dong Nai. S.Inoue leg. (examined) ; 1♂, 25.Feb.[Mar.].1962. Dinh Quan, Dong Nai, S.Inoue leg. (examined) ;
1♀, 29.Jan.1961. Trang Bom, de Bien Hoa. S.Inoue leg. (examined)

Records taken from Literature

[ THAILAND ]
Curetis metayei ; Kimura et al.,2014 : 47, figs.♂,♂(Un),♂,♂(Un). (Phu Khiewo)

[ LAOS ]
Curetis santana ssp. ; Motono & Negishi,1989 : 77, pl.109, figs.A9,♂,A10,♂(Un). ('Luang Prabang; Pakse; Nam Moh; Vang Vieng')
Curetis santana malayica ; Osada, Uémura & Uehara,1999 : 219. pl.129, fig.♀. (Lak Sao) (in part)
Curetis sperthis metayei ; Onodera,2022 : 100, pl.234, figs.♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un). (Khammouan: Ban Lao; Phon Si)

[ CAMBODIA ]
Curetis sp. ; Morishita,1978 : 12,14, figs.24,♂,♂(Un). (Cambodia)
Curetis sperthis metayei ; Eliot,1990 : 223, 208, fig.14(♂,genitalia). (Cambodia)
Curetis metayei ; Chartier & Kosterin,2022 : 120. (by literature)

[ VIETNAM ]
Curetis sp. ; Morishita,19780 : 12,14, figs.24,♂,♂(Un). (S)
Curetis sperthis metayei ; Eliot,1990 : 224, 208, fig.14(♂,genitalia). (Vietnam)
Curetis santana malayica ; Miyazaki, Saito & Saito,2007c : 40, fig.L-159,♀. (Lam Dong: Dambri)
Curetis metayei ; Monastyrskii & Devyatkin,2015 : 48. (S)

Specimens Examined

[ LAOS ]
Bolikhamxai : 2♂ 2♀ (incl. photo by H.Onodera).

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Khammouan : 3♂ 3♀ (photo by H.Onodera).

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

[ VIETNAM ]
Khanh Hoa : 1♀.
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Lam Dong : 1♂ 1♀.
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Dong Nai : 2♂ 2♀ (incl.Paratypes).
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Notes

The butterfly is locally not rare in montane forests at low to moderate elevations.
The species was described as a subspecies of tonkina. Eliot,1990 considered metayei to be a subspecies of sperthis. Subsequently, Kimura et al.,2014 treated it as a distinct species due to the differences of markings and male genitalia.
It is quite similar to sympatric bulis, but smaller in size, the termen of the male forewing is straight, and the post-discal striae in space 4 and 5 on the underside of both wings remarkably step out towards the termen. However, some specimens of bulis have almost the same markings, therefore it is necessary to examine the genitalia.
The female specimen shown as Curetis santana malayica in Osada, Uémura & Uehara,1999 is considered to be this taxon. Further taxonomic and distributional studies are needed.

Literature

Inoué, S. & Kawazoé, A.,1965 : Riodinidae, Curetidae and Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera : Rhopalocera) from South Viet-Nam.
Nature and Life in Southeast Asia 4 : 317-394, 19 pls.

Morishita, K.,1978 : Curetis acuta and its allies.
Yadoriga 93/94:3-17. (in Japanese)

Eliot, J.N.,1990 : Notes on the Genus Curetis Hübner (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)
Trans. lepid. Soc. Japan 41(4):201-225.

1999.05.24 - 2023.04.30.