Another Grass Yellow

[Tony Moore]

One from this morning - any ideas, anyone? Not 'Anderson's', I'm sure, although that looks the nearest. Why has no one produced a definitive 'Butterflies of the Philippines' .....

Tony M.

[Chris Jackson]

Web sources indicate that the Eurema genus includes some 80 species, and andersonii has 8 sub-species, so there is some choice.
Perhaps someone will be able to narrow it down further. Chris.

[Padfield]

Again, this looks perfectly compatible with hecabe to me. Some Eurema species are identifiable from the underside (in India, blanda was easily separable from hecabe by the third spot in the cell) but others need a look at the upperside - which is impossible, in my experience! So, my guide to Australian butterflies describes how to separate hecabe from alitha (which also flies in the Philippines) from details of the dark upperside margins but gives no hints about the undersides. The undersides are very variable anyway - and when checking web pictures you need to know if you are looking at a wet-season or dry-season form as these are very different.

Maybe you can find this book in the university library:

http://www.pemberleybooks.com/product/b ... idae/4485/

At £385, for just Pieridae and Danaidae, it's probably not a viable option to buy it ...

Guy

[Tony Moore]

Hi Guy,

Looking further, I'm sure it's hecabe,as you suggest. I didn't think that the forewing smudges were sometimes present in the species. This place is a very steep learning curve .

Tony.