I have found a Vietnamese moth (left) that looks much like the Riodinid Stiboges (right). It does not belong to the same family (the Vietnamese Riodinidae were dealt with in detail by Callaghan 2009 J Lepid Soc 63). I have not yet tried to check the morphological details; since the similarity is so striking I guess this might be a well known case of mimicry...
Does any one know what the moth is?
The moth seems to belong to the family Eupterotidae. I will try to find our the exact determination.
With best wishes
Thomas Witt
I've got it! After the message by Thomas I recalled of the fantastic resource of the online Witt collection:
http://www.insecta-web.org/MWM/htmls/projekte_vk.html
The insect is almost identical to Psychostrophia nymphidiaria (Oberthür, 1839) (Epicopeiidae). It seems that the similarity with Riodinids (Nymphidium) was already in the mind of Oberthür alñmost 200 years ago!
My best thanks!
There are many cases of butterfly/moth mimicry. It is useful to keep in mind that there are only minor morphological differences between the two, it is mainly the words that justify the separation!
Fascinating. Note that Charles Oberthür, who I presume is the cited author above, was not born until 1845, so probably there was a typo someplace and the publication date is 1893, not 1839. Callaghan (in the Lep. Soc. article cited above), said of Stiboges nymphidia, "In most Vietnamese localities,, the butterfly is accompanied by a diurnal geometrid (sic) moth that closely resembles it and has the same flight and resting behavior." I wonder which is the model and which is the mimic? And I might also note that it is not only words, but around 100 million years of independent evolutionary history, that separates these two species - about as much as the difference between us and a kangaroo!
I am afraid that Andy's comment on Oberthür's date is all right: 1893, not 1839... my typing fault! An interesting case for a field study I guess, Both Epicopeiids and Riodinids are known to be involved in mimetic rings.
Mea culpa, I should have clarified that when I said, the words, I meant the words 'butterfly' and 'moth', not the two species in question. There are several examples of moth/butterfly mimicry, eg family Epicopeidae and the red bodied Byasa and Atrophaneura swallowtails (Mullerian, presumably, although the Epicopia are additionally armed with a sharp spur on the hind tibia, which drew blood from my forefinger when I was holding a moth); Atossa (Uraniidae) and Aporia agathon (Pieridae) in the Himalaya (although A. agathon is clearly the model, in that it swarms in May and June, it appears to be palatable and Atossa is so rare that I have never seen one in several decades of observations, or else the mimicry is so perfect that I overlooked them among the agathon...) but to my mind the most interesting relationship is between the widespread Pierid Colotis etrida and the Geometrid moth Abraxas etridoides which is restricted to the Palani Hills near the tip of southern India- the mimicry is perfect, but why the moth did not manage to expand its range is a mystery.
Thanks, Peter... I have never seen such beatiful things out in the field!
Thanks for this fantastic example.
Just let me a note.
Other similar case from Europe.
Two species of sawflies, hymenoptera: Rhogogaster viridis and Tenthredo olivacea, They belong to 2 distinct genera: Rhogogaster and Tenthredo and they look very similar, and show nearly the same pattern (although generic features are strickingly different).
See these links.
Rhogogaster viridis
Tenthredo olivacea
https://www.google.hu/search?q=Rhogogaster+viridis&newwindow=1&rlz=1C1OPRB_enHU576HU583&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=th2eVczRI4b7ygPkzIXgCg&ved=0CCIQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=643
https://www.google.hu/search?q=Tenthredo+olivacea&newwindow=1&rlz=1C1OPRB_enHU576HU583&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=xh2eVZ3sKYe6ygORsI3YCg&ved=0CB8QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=643
Well, Psychostrophia is always more abundant than the similar-looking riodinids from SW China to N. Vietnam and Laos. I am not sure whether Psychostrophia is unpalatable as the chemical defence has never been detected and examined. The similarity between them also led a Chinese lepidopterist to describe a "new species of Riodinidae" based on this moth, which is funny.
Thanks, Shen-Horn... I guess that without the antennae I would also have claimed for a new Riodinid! There is also a similar-looking Eupterotidae, althogh of larger size.
RIODINIDS mimic many Lepidopteran families in a remarkable degree. This is a papilionoid family with the highest diversity in the neotropics. Please consult the Butterflies of the Neotropical Region, volume 6 of Bernard d'Abrera (1994, HillHouse Publishers), you will find there many similar cases. Some of these American mimics illustrated are discussed in more or less details by other workers. Probably this helps to understand the phenomenon you find in the Vietnamese fauna.
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