5. Sylphina Angel
The pretty transparent winged sylphina butterflies are distributed across Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. The transparent inner part of sylphina angel’s wing’s are lined by black outer wings. Their attractive tail reflect fusion of green, blue and pink hues. They spend most of time beneath the leaves of plants and only make flight during full sunlight. They used to live across clouds forest of high elevation.
The sylphina angel butterflies like to fly and search for food alone. But on clear days they also found in group of tens to hundreds of butterflies beneath the leaves of plants. They also migrate to distance up to 320 km during spring season to find out nectar rich flowers.
When seen in flight the transparent wings of this exquisite butterfly reflect a myriad of shimmering iridescent green, blue and pink hues that hold the observer spellbound. As it flutters rapidly around bushes and shrubs it could easily be mistaken for a damselfly, and it is not until it settles under a leaf and stops fluttering that it reveals its true identity.
The butterflies are rarely encountered. They fly in full sunshine but periodically rest beneath leaves. The insect shown above settled under a leaf at the edge of the Sun Gate trail at Machu Picchu. In places like this, where there is a sheer drop of a thousand metres next to the trail, and just a few flimsy bushes to break your fall if you slip, photography can be a little risky! Luckily this particular insect landed in a position where there was a ledge immediately below, and photography was safe.
The genus Chorinea comprises of 8 species, all following the same basic wing pattern as sylphina, but varying in the configuration and extent of the red markings on their hindwings.