Leptotes cassius | |
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Male L. c. theonus, Jamaica | |
L. c. theonus, Cuba | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Lycaenidae |
Genus: | Leptotes |
Species: | L. cassius |
Binomial name | |
Leptotes cassius (Cramer, 1775) | |
Synonyms | |
Leptotes cassius, the Cassius blue or tropical striped blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America in Florida including the Keys, Texas south through the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America to South America. Strays have been found in New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. [2]
The wingspan is 20–35 mm.
The butterfly species has an important role in Marisha Pessl's 2006 novel Special Topics in Calamity Physics . The protagonist, Blue van Meer, is named in honor of the Cassius blue.
The caterpillars feed natively on Fabaceae. Food plants on record are Amorpha crenulata , woolly rattlepod ( Crotalaria incana ), Galactia regularis and lima bean ( Phaseolus lunatus ). It can also successfully develop feeding on Cape leadwort ( Plumbago auriculata ) or doctorbush ( P. scandens ), which (among the eudicots) are not closely related to its usual food plants. [3]
L. c. theonus (and consequently L. cassius itself) is the type species of the genus Leptotes .
Malpighia emarginata is a tropical fruit-bearing shrub or small tree in the family Malpighiaceae.
Phoebis sennae, the cloudless sulphur or cloudless giant sulphur, is a mid-sized butterfly in the family Pieridae found in the New World. There are several similar species such as the yellow angled-sulphur, which has angled wings, statira sulphur, and other sulphurs, which are much smaller.
Helianthus is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae. Except for three South American species, the species of Helianthus are native to North America and Central America. The common names "sunflower" and "common sunflower" typically refer to the popular annual species Helianthus annuus, whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules look like the sun. This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke, are cultivated in temperate regions and some tropical regions as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants. The species H. annuus typically grows during the summer and into early fall, with the peak growth season being mid-summer.
Anartia jatrophae, the white peacock, is a species of butterfly found in the southeastern United States, Central America, and throughout much of South America. The white peacock's larval hosts are water hyssop, lemon bacopa, tropical waterhyssop, frogfruit, lanceleaf frogfruit, and Carolina wild petunia . The males of the species display a unique territorial behavior, in which they stake out a territory typically 15 meters in diameter that contains larval host plants. They perch in this area and aggressively protect it from other insects and other male white peacocks.
Asclepias curassavica, commonly known as tropical milkweed, is a flowering plant species of the milkweed genus, Asclepias. It is native to the American tropics and has a pantropical distribution as an introduced species. Other common names include bloodflower or blood flower, cotton bush, hierba de la cucaracha, Mexican butterfly weed, redhead, scarlet milkweed, and wild ipecacuanha.
The western pygmy blue is one of the smallest butterflies in the world and the smallest in North America. It has reached Hawaii, as well as the Persian Gulf, including eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Leptotes is a butterfly genus in the family Lycaenidae. They are commonly known as zebra blues in reference to their zebra-striped undersides.
Leptotes pirithous, the Lang's short-tailed blue or common zebra blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae.
Piscidia piscipula, formerly also called Piscidia erythrina and commonly named Florida fishpoison tree, Jamaican dogwood, or fishfuddle, is a medium-sized, deciduous, tropical tree endemic to the wider Caribbean region including extreme southern Florida and the Bahamas, many of the Antillean islands and the coastal region from Panama northward to the vicinity of Ocampo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Native Americans of the West Indies discovered extracts from the tree could sedate fish, allowing them to be caught by hand. This practice led to the tree's common names—fishpoison and fishfuddle. The tree has medicinal value as an analgesic and sedative.
Leptotes marina, the marine blue or striped blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America and Central America.
Aphrissa statira, the statira sulphur, is a species of Lepidoptera in the family Pieridae. The species is a medium-sized yellow butterfly, with females more pale than males. They are found from southern regions of Florida and Texas through southern Brazil and northern Argentina. The caterpillars feed on the leaves of several local host plants, while adults prefer to feed on the nectar of red or orange colored flowers. The species is most noted for their dramatic migrations in the tropical areas of the Americas. They have been the subject of many studies about how butterflies navigate and orient during migration.
Pyrgus oileus, the tropical checkered skipper, is a species of skipper. It is found from Peninsular Florida, the Gulf Coast, and southern Texas, south through the West Indies, Mexico and Central America to Costa Rica.
Calpodes ethlius, the Brazilian skipper, larger canna leafroller or canna skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in the United States from southern Florida and southern Texas, south through the West Indies, Mexico, and Central America to Argentina. Strays and temporary colonies can be found north to southern Nevada, northern Texas, Illinois and Massachusetts.
Urbanus dorantes, the lilac-banded longtail or Dorantes longtail, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found from Argentina, north through Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to southern Texas and peninsular Florida. Strays can be found as far north as northern California, southern Arizona, southern Missouri and North Carolina.
Anthene amarah, the black-striped hairtail, leaden hairtail or leaden ciliate blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in tropical Africa and Arabia. The habitat consists of savanna and occasionally open areas in the forest zone.
Plumbago zeylanica, commonly known as Ceylon leadwort, doctorbush or wild leadwort, is a species of plumbago with a pantropical distribution. Carl Linnaeus described the paleotropical P. zeylanica and Neotropical P. scandens as separate species, but they are currently considered synonymous.
Satyrium liparops, the striped hairstreak, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae described by John Eatton Le Conte in 1833. It is found in North America, from the Rocky Mountains south from southern Canada to Colorado, east to Maine and south to Florida.
Hemiargus ceraunus, the Ceraunus blue, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1793. It is found in the southwestern United States, southern Texas, Florida and the Florida Keys south through the West Indies, Mexico and Central America to South America. Strays may be found in North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas and Nevada. The habitat consists of open woodland, desert scrub, dunes, pastures, road edges and vacant lots.
Ministrymon clytie, the Clytie hairstreak, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It was described by William Henry Edwards in 1877. It is found from southern Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica. The habitat consists of tropical forest openings and subtropical thorn forests.
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