BY MINERVA BC NEWMAN
*
DUMAGUETE CITY – A biologist and instructor at the Silliman University Biology Department, Dr. Jade Aster Badon, discovered a new butterfly subspecies – the Appias phoebe nuydai that can be found in Mount Talinis, Negros Oriental.
Badon said that Appias phoebe is an endemic butterfly species in the Philippines that can only be found in higher elevations and Appias phoebe nuydai is a subspecies unique to Mount Talinis.
Badon named the new butterfly subspecies after Justin Nuyda, a visual artist and lepidopterist. He examined Justin Nuyda’s butterfly specimens in Manila.
“This butterfly is important because aside from being endemic to the Philippines, they can only be found at higher elevations, at least 1,500 meters above sea level. This means you must climb to the peak of Mount Talinis to find this unique butterfly,” Badon added.
It was not known before that this butterfly existed in Mount Talinis. This discovery proves that this species and a new subspecies exist in Mount Talinis and occurrences and distribution of species are very important in the conservation and preservation of remaining important habitats, he explained.
Badon first discovered the butterfly in 2012 during a research expedition in Mount Talinis. Seven years later in 2019 during the Annual Biodiversity Symposium at the Visayas State University, Badon realized that the specimen he collected was a new subspecies of the Appias phoebe after scanning his copy of “Field Guide to the Butterflies of the Philippines.”
