Narrative

Morpho didius-menelaus group (Subgenus Grasseia, nine species) is found from Central America to southern Brazil. All the males of the species are rather similar in that they are have a uniform blue color on the top side. The species are:

SPECIES - - - - LOCATION
Morpho centralis - Central America
Morpho amathonte - Colombia
Morpho didius - Peru
Morpho godarti - Bolivia
Morpho occidentalis - Andes
Morpho mattogrossensis - Paraguay, etcetera
Morpho nestira - Southeast Brazil
Morpho melacheilus - Colombia
Morpho menelaus - Venezuela to Brazil

Per the Gerardo Lamas list of 2004, the following changes have been made to the taxonomy of this group of Morphos:

The entire complex above has been reduced to forms and subspecies of Morpho menelaus. Lamas lists a total of 17 different subspecies.

Le Moults species have become: Morpho centralis (part of ssp amathonte), amathonte(ssp), didius(ssp), godarti(ssp), occidentalis(ssp) mattogrossensis (part of coeruleus ssp), nestira (part of coeruleus ssp). Melacheilus (part of occidentalis ssp)

(There is a lot of confusion in the accurate naming of the species in the Morpho menelaus-Morpo didius group. One easy solution is to place them all in a single species, which is usually designated as Morpho menelaus. This sweeps numerous taxonomic problems under the rug. Unfortunately, that solution seems to neglect that different food plants, different amounts of humidity, different temperature ranges, and possibly even different parasitic microbes and parasitic wasps occur in different environments. Different species would have different genetic codes to survive under different conditions.

When one considers the different environments that occur in the higher altitudes of the Andes, the lower altitudes of the lower Amazon Valley, and no doubt numerous environments in between, it seems that multiple species might be involved.

If you consider some of the obvious structural differences between some of the forms in this group, you again are led to the opinion that more than one species might be involved. (Note the shape of the pointed scallops in the rear wing of Morpho mattogrossensis as pictured herein, note the very pronounced fore-wing shape comparison between Morpho godarti female pictured herein, and the Morpho didius female pictured herein. The didius forms seem to have a very pronounced falcate wing shape. (Falcate means that the tip of the wing is accentuated by the concave nature of the outer wing edge.))

We suspect that the country of Peru could have as many as 5 different valid blue species in this group.

Morpho menelaus in NE Peru in low Andes altitudes: LeMoult’s Morpho menelaus napensis
Morpho godarti appears to have a blue form found in southern Peru
Morpho didius
Morpho occidentalis in North Peru at higher altitudes
Morpho melacheilus in North Peru at higher altitudes)

Taxonomy

References