este macho viene del PN Sangay
wingspan :
we photographed this Saturnus at Cumbaratza ; it is the only one we saw in the South, and, a few years later, Karen Nichols took more pictures.
circa 2010 we would write re Sangay NP: "Bernard Hermier informs us that several specimens on this sheet (set specímens, individual variations and shots in situ) would be Saturnus reticulata tiberius (for instance the set female) while others would be Saturnus reticulata suffuscus (the male).
all these butterflies coming from the very same spots, we think a re-assessment of the validity of Saturnus reticulata subspecies is badly needed".
today, 2025, things got worse, on BoA we have :
- three almost identical species : reticulata, tiberius and meton,
- which all have a "suffuscus" and a "non suffuscus" form, promoted to the subspecies level,
- almost all of which fly together, species and ssp alike.
so, in the hope of a revision some day, we provisionnally put these butterflies on a "reticulata, tiberius, meton Group" fact sheet, split into two forms, "suffuscus" and "non suffuscus"to emphasize the differences, although some specimens are less "suffuscus" than others and a few could go on either fact sheet.
here in the South, we never saw the "non suffuscus" form.
