This is such a pain in the ass genus! Seriously, it simply is impossible to do a correct identification. This could be Pseudobunaea pallens or ... maybe not. I'm not so sure anymore. It has some traits in common with Pseudobunaea seydeli, like that very strong pink hue on the outer edges of all the wings. The male in the picture is the offspring of a female I caught in the Dzalanyama forest (Malawi), so that could indicate pallens (which is reported from Angola, Gabon, Congo (RDC), Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi). Seydeli has not been confirmed for Malawi. Seydeli is in fact a very obscure species with almost no information, even though the little information available suggests that they fly in Congo (if there is such thing as a seydeli). The only thing I'm absolutely sure of is that this is not tyrrhena (also present in the Dzalanyama forest as subspecies fumida) and not irius (absolutely no match with the caterpillar of this species (posted March 30th this year) and that of irius). Well, what can I say. One day somebody will be brave enough to attempt a serious revision of this genus and rigorously match DNA barcoding to the right and well described species. Maybe then, finally, it will be a bit easier to correctly identify all the Pseudobunaea.
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| Pseudobunaea cf pallens male - Origin: Malawi |