telesiphe

telesiphe   (E. Doubleday, 1847)

cretacea   H. Neustetter, 1916 (= nivea – W.J. Kaye, 1916)

sotericus   O. Salvin, 1871

H. telesiphe telesiphe

 

H. telesiphe sotericus

 

H. telesiphe cretacea

 

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

hybrid telesiphe  x  cretacea ?

The above scheme shows FW band shapes for the three common telesiphe subspecies (left): the all-white of cretacea is not the only character of that ssp, but also a reduced median band with M3 patch separated from cell end, and missing Cu2 patch. These two specimen (on the right) are entirely white (cretacea), but the band shapes are identical to those of telesiphe telesiphe and telesiphe sotericus, plus a presence of red scaling. Considering the place of capture, I guess they could be hybrids telesiphe x cretacea.

The two above are in my collection, and at least another three I have seen on sale. See also https://sites.google.com/site/strangeheliconius