New Green-Eyed Butterfly Discovered in the US

Entomologists writing in the journal ZooKeys detail the discovery of a new butterfly species in Texas, US.

They say that, although specimens belonging to this species were collected and placed in storage about a century ago, it took a while for specialists to realize that they were in fact dealing with a previously unknown insect.

Vicroy's Ministreak (a.k.a. Ministrymon janevicroy), as this species is named, looks fairly similar to one other species.

However, the latter sports either dark-brown or black eyes, whereas this species stand out thanks to an olive-green eye color.

“Although individuals of Vicroy's Ministreak were deposited in the Smithsonian entomology collections a century ago, this species was unrecognized because it was confused with the common, similar-looking Gray Ministreak.”

“Interestingly what distinguishes the two species is the distinctive olive-green eyes of the new species in contrast to the dark brown/black eyes of the Gray Ministreak,” Pensoft writes.

Specimens belonging to this newly discovered species are roughly the size of a thumbnail.