Nessaea obrinus
{{Short description|Species of butterfly}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Nessaeaof.jpg
| image_caption = Female
| image_alt = Female
| image2 = Nessaeaom.jpg
| image2_caption = Male
| image2_alt = Male
| taxon = Nessaea obrinus
| authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)[http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/nymphalidae/biblidinae/nessaea/ "Nessaea Hübner, [1819]"] at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
| synonyms =
- Papilio obrinus Linnaeus, 1758
- Papilio ancaeus Linnaeus, 1758
- Nessaea obrinus latifascia Röber, 1928
- Nessaea obrinus romani Bryk, 1953
- Nessaea obrina
}}
File:Obrinus olivewing (Nessaea obrinus faventia).JPG]]
Nessaea obrinus, the obrina olivewing, is a species of butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found from Colombia and the Guianas to the mouth of the Amazon and south to central Bolivia and Mato Grosso in Brazil, extending to northern Argentina.{{cite web|url=http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/mcguire/allyn_pdfs/AME125.pdf|title=Neotropical Nymphalidae VII. Revision of Nessaea|author=|date=|website=ufl.edu}}
The length of the wings is 25–40 mm for males and 26–41 mm for females. Adults of subspecies obrinus are on wing in January and from July to November. Adults of subspecies faventia are on wing year round, but mainly from June to October and adults of subspecies lesoudieri are on wing year round, with no observed peak of abundance.
Blue pigmentation
Obrina Olivewing butterflies are very unusual because they are one of the few animals with actual blue pigment. Most other species get their blue coloration from a process called coherent scattering, in which scattered light waves interfere to create a blue color.{{Cite episode |title=Why Is Blue So Rare In Nature? |episode-link= |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g246c6Bv58 |access-date=7 February 2018 |series=It's Okay To Be Smart |series-link= |first=Hanson |last=Joe |network=PBS |station= |date=9 January 2018 |season= |series-no= |number= |minutes=8:26 |time= |transcript= |transcript-url= |quote= |language=English}} All the other species of Nessaea get their blue coloration from the pigment pterobilin.{{cite journal|last1=Vane-Wright|first1=Richard I.|title=The coloration, identification and phylogeny of Nessaea butterflies (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae)|journal=Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History)|date=22 February 1979|volume=38|issue=2|pages=27–56|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279190422|accessdate=8 February 2018|language=English|format=PDF|series=Entomology Series}} Pterobilin also provides blue for Graphium agamemnon, G. antiphates, G. doson, and G. sarpedon.{{cite book|last1=Simonis|first1=Priscilla|last2=Serge|first2=Berthier|editor1-last=Massaro|editor1-first=Alessandro|title=Photonic Crystals - Introduction, Applications and Theory|date=30 March 2012|publisher=InTech|isbn=978-953-51-0431-5|chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258042644|accessdate=8 February 2018|language=English|chapter=Chapter number 1 How Nature produces blue color|doi=10.5772/32410}} Other butterflies in Graphium and Papilio (specifically P. phorcas and P. weiskei) use the blue pigments phorcabilin and sarpedobilin.
Subspecies
- Nessaea obrinus obrinus (Guianas and in eastern Venezuela)
- Nessaea obrinus faventia Fruhstorfer, 1910 (Brazil (Mato Grosso), Bolivia)
- Nessaea obrinus lesoudieri Le Moult, 1933 (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil (Amazonas))
References
{{reflist}}
{{taxonbar|from=Q13575526}}
Category:Lepidoptera of Argentina
Category:Lepidoptera of Bolivia
Category:Lepidoptera of Brazil
Category:Lepidoptera of Colombia
Category:Lepidoptera of Ecuador
Category:Lepidoptera of Venezuela
Category:Nymphalidae of South America
Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Category:Butterflies described in 1758
{{Biblidinae-stub}}