Riodinidae : Riodininae
Dianesia alayoi Álvarez, Núñez, & Espeland 2025
Alayo's Metalmark
Dianesia alayoi Álvarez, Núñez, & Espeland 2025
Alayo's Metalmark
Description and Similar Species: Wingspan 29-32mm. Sexes similar though males have narrower more pointed wings. Its habit of often settling on the underside of leaves means that it can more easily be mistaken for a moth rather than a butterfly.
Range: Found only along the SE coast of Cuba from Santiago de Cuba east to Punta de Maisi. Found in dwarf dry coastal scrub-woodland and dry coastal scrub-woodland near the shoreline and inland wherever the host plant grows. This butterfly is surely more widespread and continuously distributed along the southeastern coast of eastern Cuba than what the current data
suggest, given that its host plant is uniformly present in this area (Köhler 2014).
Status: Rare and Endemic to Cuba.
Nectar Plants: Adults visit flowers of Anastraphia calcicola Britton (Asteraceae), Bourreria suculenta (Boraginaceae), Rauvolfia tetraphylla L. (Apocynaceae) and Guaiacum officinale L. (Zygophillaceae)
Larval Foodplants: Buxus glomerata (Buxaceae).
Range: Found only along the SE coast of Cuba from Santiago de Cuba east to Punta de Maisi. Found in dwarf dry coastal scrub-woodland and dry coastal scrub-woodland near the shoreline and inland wherever the host plant grows. This butterfly is surely more widespread and continuously distributed along the southeastern coast of eastern Cuba than what the current data
suggest, given that its host plant is uniformly present in this area (Köhler 2014).
Status: Rare and Endemic to Cuba.
Nectar Plants: Adults visit flowers of Anastraphia calcicola Britton (Asteraceae), Bourreria suculenta (Boraginaceae), Rauvolfia tetraphylla L. (Apocynaceae) and Guaiacum officinale L. (Zygophillaceae)
Larval Foodplants: Buxus glomerata (Buxaceae).
Larva
Foodplants and Habitat
