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Pinoy biologist discovers new butterfly subspecies in Mount Talinis in Negros

There's officially a new butterfly in the Philippines!

Jade Aster T. Badon, a biologist and instructor at the Silliman University in Dumaguete, discovered the new butterfly when he hiked to the peak of Mount Talinis in Negros back in 2012.

He collected the specimen around Lake Nailig, a crater lake near the summit, during his research expedition.

 

 


Photo: Jade Aster T. Badon, published in Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo.

However, it wasn't until 2019 that he realized that it was a completely new subspecies of the Appias phoebe, when he attended a wildlife conservation symposium in Leyte.

 

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"[The butterfly] was actually featured in one of my books, and then when I skimmed through the pages, I noticed the picture of the butterfly. I said, it looks different," he told GMA News Online.

"The one here in South Negros is distinctly different from the other subspecies in the country," he added.

The Appias phoebe nyudai ssp. n. has a funnel-shaped cell end spot in the forewing, as compared to another subspecies, the ssp. montana, which has a circular-shaped cell end spot.

Badon said the new subspecies can only be found in Mount Talinis, more than 1,500 above sea level.

The researcher shared that growing up, he would always see Mount Talinis, but it's only in 2012 that he was able to reach the peak. He has always been curious, however, because Mount Talinis was "understudied."

He added that he was honored to be the one to discover the new subspecies.

"My advisor passed away ten days after I graduated [grad school]. Before he passed away, he told me, I can't wait for what you're going to accomplish. I feel honored to be able to discover something because he was expecting a lot from me. I feel happy that I discovered this unexpectedly," he said.

Badon named the new butterfly after Justin S. Nuyda, a painter and one of the first Filipinos to document the country's butterflies, for his valuable contribution to the study of Philippine butterflies.

His research just been published in Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo (NEVA).

Badon is a biologist, instructor, and the president of the Philippine Lepidoptera Butterflies and Moths, Incorporated.

—JCB, GMA News