''Matsutaroa'' is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

genus in the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfl ...

. It is nearest to the genus '' Ancema'', but differs from it in the following points: (1) veins 5 and 6 on the forewing are not very close at their origins, but in ''Ancema'' they are very close at their origins; (2) the ground colour of the underside of the male is white, tinged with pale yellow and blue and has no shade of silver, but in the genus ''Ancema'' the ground colour of the underside is more or less tinged with silver; (3) in the male genitalia the valva is stout, a short brachial process is separating from the dorsum of the valva, and the phallus is stout, but in ''Ancema'' the valva is slender, a long brachial process separating from the ventral direction of valva, and the phallus is very slender. ''Matsutaroa'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus, containing only ''Matsutaroa iljai''."''Matsutaroa'' Hayashi, Schröder & Treadaway, 1984"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' It is endemic to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and found on the islands of Masbate,

Negros Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

and

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...

. Its forewing length is 18–20 mm. The appearance of male and female is quite different. On

Kanlaon Volcano Kanlaon, also known as Mount Kanlaon and Kanlaon Volcano ( hil, Bolkang Kanglaon; ceb, Bolkang Kanglaon; fil, Bulkang Kanlaon), is an active stratovolcano and the highest mountain on the island of Negros in the Philippines, as well as the hig ...

of Negros it occurs once a year (June to August) and is frequently found on red flowers. Matsutaroa iljai ♂, Mt

References

* , 1984: New lycaenid butterflies from the Philippines (Inscta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). ''Senckenbergiana Biologica'' 65(1/2):29-41. * , 1995. Checklist of the butterflies of the Philippine Islands (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) ''Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo'' Suppl.14: 7–118. * 1997: A concise guide for the identification of ''Tajuria'' (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) and its allies with description of new subspecies (1). ''Butterflies'', 18: 46–53. * , 2012: Revised checklist of the butterflies of the Philippine Islands (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera). ''Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo'', Suppl. 20: 1-64. * , 2016. A Synonymic List of Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera) from the Philippines, Edition 1

Iolaini Lycaenidae genera Monotypic butterfly genera {{Theclinae-stub