''Nessaea obrinus'', the obrina olivewing, is a species of

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 ...

of the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

. It is found from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and the Guianas to the mouth of the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

and south to central

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

and Mato Grosso in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, extending to northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. 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 Scattering is a term used in physics to describe a wide range of physical processes where moving particles or radiation of some form, such as light or sound, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by localized non-uniformities (including ...

, in which scattered light waves interfere to create a blue color. All the other species of ''

Nessaea ''Nessaea'' is a genus of nymphalid butterflies found in the Neotropical realm. Unlike virtually all other butterflies with blue coloration, the blue colors in this genus are due to pigmentation terobilin (biliverdin IXγ)ref>Doug Taron"It's all ...

'' get their blue coloration from the pigment

pterobilin ''Graphium sarpedon'' which contains pterobilin Pterobilin is a blue bile pigment found in '' Nessaea'' spp., ''Graphium agamemnon'', '' G. antiphates'', '' G. doson'', and '' G. sarpedon''. It is one of only a few blue pigments found in any ani ...

. Pterobilin also provides blue for ''

Graphium agamemnon ''Graphium agamemnon'', the tailed jay, is a predominantly green and black tropical butterfly that belongs to the swallowtail family. The butterfly is also called the green-spotted triangle, tailed green jay, or green triangle. It is a common, n ...

'', '' G. antiphates'', '' G. doson'', and '' G. sarpedon''. Other butterflies in '' Graphium'' and ''

Papilio ''Papilio'' is a genus in the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae, as well as the only representative of the tribe Papilionini. The word ''papilio'' is Latin for butterfly. It includes the common yellow swallowtail (''Papilio machaon''), ...

'' (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

Biblidinae Fauna of Brazil Nymphalidae of South America Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Butterflies described in 1758 {{Biblidinae-stub