perhosilla

Perhosilla is a fictional genus of butterflies created for illustrative purposes in this article. In the imagined biogeography, it belongs to the family Nymphalidae and the subfamily Satyrinae. The genus currently comprises a single described species, Perhosilla lumina.

Perhosilla lumina is a small butterfly with a wingspan of 18–24 mm. The upperside is warm brown with a pale metallic-blue band across the forewings; the hindwings show a row of orange lunules near the margin. The ventral side mimics dried leaves, aiding camouflage. The overall impression is one of subtle contrast and a leaf-like appearance when at rest.

Adults are diurnal and feed on nectar from composite flowers. They prefer sunny or lightly shaded meadows and forest edges. Eggs are laid on grasses; larvae feed on Poa and Festuca species. The species is univoltine in cooler parts of its range, producing one generation per year with a life cycle synchronized to the growing season.

The species is endemic to the fictional Lantari Archipelago in the northern temperate zone, where habitat features include moist meadows and open woodlands. Threats include habitat fragmentation from development and overgrazing, though being a fictional construct, it serves primarily as an instructional example of island-endemic butterfly ecology.

The name Perhosilla derives from Finnish perhonen, meaning butterfly, with the diminutive suffix -illa, signaling small size. The species epithet lumina comes from Latin lumina, meaning light.