wingspan : male 62/64, female 70 mm
Luck played a role in the discovery of such a large and conspicuous species of butterfly ; in October 2020 Abigail del Pozo, a biologist at San Francisco University in Quito, with a particular interest in plants, visited Yanayacu, spotted a beautiful butterfly and took some pictures.
It could have been the end of the story ; but Abigail had the right attitude and posted her photos on iNaturalist, and, about three years later, Jean-Caude Petit came across these pictures, asked Tomasz Pyrcz if he had ever seen this butterfly ? the answer being no, Pierre Boyer and Jean-Claude Petit went to Ecuador and, thanks to the Fundación Jocotoco, to Reserva Yanacocha, and it was there !
Such a new species in the immediate vicinity of Quito (three million people), and in Ecuador, the Andean country where butterflies, and, more particularly cloud forest butterflies are better known, is quite a surprise, and it follows from this that there should be much more to discover.
this species will be described in the near future (2024) under the Corades yanacocha name.
