Junonia vallida vs. orithya

[Bruce Walsh]

In going over about  half-dozen Junonia specimens taken in a recent trip
to Townsville & Carins in North Queensland (yup, I have a permit), I
noticed that I  several individuals in this same sample appear completely
intermediate between J. villida (which looks like the common North American
buckeye, J. coenia) and J. orithya (which has the  dorsal surface of the
hindwing covered in a most beautiful iridescent blue that often obscures the 
eyespots).  While North American Junonia commonly show such intermediates
(nigrosuffusa vs. coenia phenotypic intermediates are common here in SE
Arizona), these apparent hybrids were quite striking given the variation in
the amount of iridescent blue on the hindwings.  Can any OZ
collectors/watchers out there comment on how common such apparent orithya-villida
hybrids appear in nature?

Cheers

Bruce 


Bruce Walsh
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Arizona
Tucson,  AZ  85721  USA

Office:  520 621-1915
Fax (Departmental)  520 621 9190

home page:  http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu
Book page:  http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/zbook/book.html