Shoulder-streaked Firetip

Pyrrhopyge papius

Pyrrhopyge papius is a neotropical species of firetip butterfly in the family Hesperiidae.
Shoulder-streaked Firetip (Pyrrhopyge papius) It's fair to say these were some of the most risky photographs I've ever taken. I was very high up the Huayna Picchu which looks down on Machu Picchu. We were climbing through cloud when I saw this beautiful butterfly on a shrub hanging off the side of the mountain. The only way to get a photo or two was to lean over, on tip-toe, arms outstretched over the shrub without somehow, disturbing the butterfly. Looking back, it wasn't wise, and I wasn't expecting much by way of result. But Lady Luck smiled. The subfamily Pyrrhopyginae comprises 163 known species, most of which are found only in the tropical rainforests and cloudforests of South America. They share among them, several characteristics including unusually prominent eyes (shown clearly in my lower photo) and thickset bodies relatively large against their wing size. With that large muscular body, Firetips are very fast flyers, their wings audible in flight. The name Firetip comes from the crimson-red tuft at the tail which many of them exhibit and which is very evident in the upper photo. There's no video with these photographs which is a shame, because there are none on this species on YouTube. Geotagged,Peru,Pyrrhopyge papius,Shoulder-streaked Firetip

Distribution

Pyrrhopyge papius occurs from Colombia to Bolivia, and has 2 recognized subspecies.

Habitat

This species occurs in mid-elevation cloud forest, at altitudes between about 500-1200m.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhopyge
https://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Andes%20-%20Pyrrhopyge%20papius.htm
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyHesperiidae
GenusPyrrhopyge
SpeciesPyrrhopyge papius
Photographed in
Peru