Idea (butterfly)

Last updated

Idea
Paper Kite (7235735226).jpg
Idea leuconoe , paper kite
Idea malabarica - Malabar Tree Nymph life cycle newly eclosed at Peravoor (67).jpg
Idea malabarica , Malabar tree-nymph
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Subtribe: Euploeina
Genus: Idea
Fabricius, 1807
Species

See text

Synonyms [1]
  • Hestia Hübner
  • Idaea Oberthür, 1880
  • Nectaria Billberg, 1820
  • Sabalassa Moore, 1883

Idea (Hestia in older literature) is a genus of butterflies known as tree nymphs or paper butterflies. The member species are concentrated around South-East Asia. See Sevenia for the genus of African tree nymphs. These slender butterflies have very large, papery white wings with black veins and markings. They stay high up in the treetops where they flap around in slow flight. Like most other monarch butterflies ( Danaini ), wood nymphs are poisonous, and the striking colour patterns signal this. Several butterflies from other groups mimic these patterns.

Contents

Description

Seitz - All the species which belong here are distinguished by their size and have a heavy, awkward flight,the weak muscles being evidently unable to control the enormous wings. Even a moderate breeze drives them helplessly hither and thither like pieces of light paper and probably on this account they never leave the shelter of the woods. The species of Hestia are among the largest butterflies, and they even attract the attention of the natives, who in India call them "spectres" or "ghosts", the Malays on Celebes give them the expressive name "surat", i.e. letter, and the Javanese that of "kupo kertas", i.e. paper-butterflv. The butterflies are mostly gregarious, are fond of following the course of small streams, above which they float up and down, also frequently gambol round high flowering forest-trees and love to settle in the late afternoon on projecting twigs, mostly in pairs, so that one might think they were beginning family life. The imagines are large, semitransparent butterflies with long, very thin antennae, scarcely thickened at the tip, without clubs or knobs. Claws, unlike Ideopsis , with appendages. The precostal of the hindwing arising distally to the subcostal, being bipartite and directed proximad. Forewing with five subcostals, of which two arise before the end of the cell, the first being united with the costal as in Ideopsis. Hindwing without patches of androconia or other scent-organs. Males , however, with two or four scent-pencils at the anal extremity. The Hestia differ from all other Danaids in the broad and always sharply armed valve, which is coarsely dentate or provided with widely projecting points, and form a group by themselves. The uncus is aborted. Larva of only two species yet known, approaching those of the Euploeid-group Trepsichrois, long, black, ringed, with lateral variegated patches above the prolegs and provided with four pairs of fleshy black tentacles. Pupa more slender than the bell-shaped pupa of the Danaids, with projecting points at the head, yellowish, black-dotted, without golden ornamentation [2]

Species

Listed alphabetically: [3]

Related Research Articles

A common classification of the Lepidoptera involves their differentiation into butterflies and moths. Butterflies are a natural monophyletic group, often given the suborder Rhopalocera, which includes Papilionoidea, Hesperiidae (skippers), and Hedylidae. In this taxonomic scheme, moths belong to the suborder Heterocera. Other taxonomic schemes have been proposed, the most common putting the butterflies into the suborder Ditrysia and then the "superfamily" Papilionoidea and ignoring a classification for moths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver-washed fritillary</span> Species of butterfly

The silver-washed fritillary is a common and variable butterfly found over much of the Palearctic realm – Algeria, Europe and across the Palearctic to Japan.

<i>Bhutanitis lidderdalii</i> Species of butterfly

Bhutanitis lidderdalii, the Bhutan glory, is a species of swallowtail butterfly, which is found in Bhutan, parts of northeastern India and of Southeast Asia. A spectacular insect much sought after by collectors, the species epithet is after Dr R. Lidderdale, from whose collection the butterfly was first described by William Stephen Atkinson in 1873. Listed under CITES Appendix II, the status of the butterfly has been recorded as rare by some authorities but as being of least concern in 2019 by the Red Book of the IUCN.

<i>Badamia exclamationis</i> Species of butterfly

Badamia exclamationis, commonly known as the brown awl or narrow-winged awl, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is found in south and southeast Asia, Australia, and Oceania.

<i>Idea leuconoe</i> Species of butterfly

Idea leuconoe, also known as the paper kite butterfly, rice paper butterfly, large tree nymph, is a butterfly known especially for its presence in butterfly houses and live butterfly expositions. It has a wingspan of 12 to 14 cm. The paper kite is of Southeast Asian origin, but can also be found in Southern Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands.

<i>Papilio nephelus</i> Species of butterfly

Papilio nephelus is a species of swallowtail butterfly belonging to the family Papilionidae. Subspecies include P. n. chaon, the yellow Helen, and P. n. sunatus, the black and white Helen.

<i>Athyma selenophora</i> Species of insect (butterfly)

Athyma selenophora, the staff sergeant, is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in tropical and subtropical Asia.

<i>Parantica nilgiriensis</i> Species of butterfly

Parantica nilgiriensis, the Nilgiri tiger, is a butterfly found in the Western Ghats of India south of the Konkan. It belongs to the danaid group of the brush-footed butterflies family.

<i>Idea malabarica</i> Species of butterfly

Idea malabarica, the Malabar tree nymph, is a large butterfly found in peninsular India. that belongs to the danaid group of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in forest clearings and above the forest canopy.

<i>Megisba malaya</i> Species of butterfly

Megisba malaya, the Malayan, is a small butterfly found in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It belongs to the family of gossamer-winged butterflies (Lycaenidae). The species was first described by Thomas Horsfield in 1928.

<i>Hypolimnas misippus</i> Species of butterfly

Hypolimnas misippus, the Danaid eggfly, mimic, or diadem, is a widespread species of nymphalid butterfly. It is well known for polymorphism and mimicry. Males are blackish with distinctive white spots that are fringed in blue. Females are in multiple forms that include male-like forms while others closely resemble the toxic butterflies Danaus chrysippus and Danaus plexippus.

<i>Ideopsis vulgaris</i> Species of butterfly

Ideopsis vulgaris, the blue glassy tiger, is a butterfly that belongs to the crows and tigers, that is, the danaid group of the brush-footed butterflies family.

<i>Ideopsis</i> Genus of brush-footed butterflies

Ideopsis is a genus of nymphalid butterflies in the subfamily Danainae found in South-east Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceylon tree nymph</span> Species of butterfly

The Ceylon tree nymph is a species of nymphalid butterfly in the subfamily Danainae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka. First described by John Westwood in 1848, the Ceylon tree nymph can be found in both wet and dry zones of Sri Lanka. It is the largest member of the family Danaidae in that country. It is listed as a near threatened species in the IUCN Red List.

<i>Nymphalis xanthomelas</i> Species of butterfly

Nymphalis xanthomelas, the scarce tortoiseshell, is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in eastern Europe and Asia. This butterfly is also referred as yellow-legged tortoiseshell or large tortoiseshell.

<i>Sevenia boisduvali</i> Species of butterfly

Sevenia boisduvali, the Boisduval's tree nymph, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. There are four subspecies; all native to Africa.

<i>Ideopsis juventa</i> Species of butterfly

Ideopsis juventa, the wood nymph, gray glassy tiger or grey glassy tiger, is a species of nymphalid butterfly in the Danainae subfamily. It is found in Southeast Asia.

<i>Terinos</i> Genus of brush-footed butterflies

Terinos is a genus of Nymphalid butterflies. They are found from Burma, through South-East Asia, to New Guinea.

<i>Mimoides pausanias</i> Species of butterfly

Mimoides pausanias, the Pausanias swallowtail or bluish mimic-swallowtail, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae.

<i>Idea hypermnestra</i> Species of butterfly

Idea hypermnestra is a large butterfly that belongs to the danaid group of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by John Obadiah Westwood in 1848. It is found in the Indomalayan realm.

References

  1. "Idea". Global Biodiversity Information Facility . Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  2. Seitz, A. 1912–1927. Die Indo-Australien Tagfalter. The Macrolepidoptera of the World9: 1–766;pdf 767–1201,pdf pls 1–175.pdf PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  3. "Idea Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms