SU biologist discovers another butterfly subspecies

Dr. Badon examines a specimen of Nuyda’s butterfly collection in Manila, February 2020. (Photo from Dr. Badon)

Dr. Jade Aster T. Badon, biologist and instructor at the Silliman University (SU) Biology Department, discovered an endemic butterfly subspecies in Panay Island, the Ptychandra negrosensis angelalcalai, his second discovery this year.

Badon discovered the subspecies with Justin S. Nuyda, a visual artist and lepidopterist, after he reviewed Nuyda’s butterfly collection and realized that Nuyda’s Ptychandra negrosensis specimen from Panay is different from the Ptychandra negrosensis specimen he found in Negros Island.

The Ptychandra negrosensis angelalcalai is a new endemic butterfly subspecies discovered in Panay Island by Dr. Jade Aster T. Badon and Justin S. Nuyda. (Photo from the article published in Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo)

The entomological journal Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo published Badon and Nuyda’s discovery in its 41st volume last December 6, 2020.

The subspecies was named after another Sillimanian: Dr. Angel C. Alcala, a national scientist.

In the published article, it is said that Nuyda collected the specimen in 1989 from Mount Madjaas in Culasi, Antique.

In June 2020, the same journal published Dr. Badon’s discovery of the Appias phoebe nuydai, a subspecies unique to Mount Talinis.