New Cuban butterfly

[Ian Pratt]

In 2014, my wife and I joined a group visit to Cuba to meet the Fairtrade producers. We had a fantastic time including several nature trips when we saw various birds and butterflies. The world's smallest bird, the bee hummingbird, was a highlight.
One of the butterflies I photographed was what I thought was Hubner's glad eye( Calisto herophile). It appears that a lot of work has been done on Calistos in the last few years including using DNA and it has been discovered that there are many more species in Cuba than was previously thought – 16 species so far and it is thought there will be more!
My photograph is one of the new species described last year, Calisto disjunctus, https://www.butterfliesofcuba.com/calis ... listo.html and there is a link on that page to the paper describing it. My photograph is possibly the first ever photo taken of it. It has only previously been known from just south and east of Havana, and from the Isla de Juventud. I saw it west of Havana near Soroa.
I attach a copy of the photograph. Certainly, a first for me.

[petesmith]

Ian, how exciting to be at the forefront of a new species discovery! Congratulations. Lovely looking butterfly as well...

[Padfield]

That's fantastic! And it's a lovely photo too - well done on all counts.

Can we hope it's given the vernacular name, Pratt's glad eye?

Guy

[Ian Pratt]

Thanks for your kind comments. I prefer Ian's glad eye!

[David M]

Good to see, Ian. It's a nice butterfly too; that red 'blotch' on the unfs really sets it off nicely.