Catonephele acontius

Acontius firewing
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Catonephele
Species:	C. acontius
Binomial name
Catonephele acontius (Linnaeus, 1771)
Synonyms
Papilio acontiusLinnaeus, 1771 Papilio antiochusFabricius, 1775 (nec Linnaeus) Papilio medeaFabricius, 1775 (nec Cramer) Papilio chioneCramer, [1776] Papilio eupalemonCramer, [1777] Catonephele eupalemaenaHübner, [1819] Catonephele acontius exquisitusStichel, 1899

Catonephele acontius, the Acontius firewing, is a nymphalid butterfly species found in South America. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1771 (who gave the type location as "China", a designation followed by some later authors).

Description

(Male, described by Dru Drury): Upperside. Antennae, head, thorax, and abdomen black. Wings fine velvety black. An orange-coloured bar, about 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) broad, rises in the middle of the superior wings, running circularly and crossing the inferior ones, meeting about the middle of the abdominal edges.

Underside. Palpi white. Tongue brown. Breast and legs white. Abdomen yellow brown. Wings shining brown, exhibiting various shades of changeable colours; the tips terminating in an ash colour. Wings scarcely dentated. Wingspan 2+3⁄4 inches (70 mm). ^[1]

• 
  Male
• 
  Female

Subspecies

• Catonephele acontius acontius (Guianas, Surinam, Brazil: Amazonas)
• Catonephele acontius caeruleusJenkins, 1985 (Bolivia)

References

1. Drury, Dru (1837). Westwood, John (ed.). Illustrations of Exotic Entomology. Vol. 3. p. 9. pl. VII.