Prepona | |
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Prepona laertes - MHNT | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Nymphalidae |
Tribe: | Preponini |
Genus: | Prepona Boisduval, 1836 |
Species | |
About 25, see text |
Prepona is a genus of Neotropical charaxine butterflies in the family Nymphalidae. They are strong fliers in tropical forests where they feed on fermenting fruits and animal dung. The underside of the wings is pale greyish or brownish, while the upperside is dark with distinct iridescent blue markings. A few species also have orange markings on the upperside of the wings. They are popular among butterfly collectors.
Prepona deiphile is considered a threatened species in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. [1]
"They are very robust insects, measuring four inches across the wings, which are broad and dentated, with the tip of the fore-wings much produced, but not falcate, the hind-margin being oblique and then nearly straight below; near the inner-margin of the hind-wings of the males stands a yellow tuft of stiff hair (androconial tuft), as in Agrias . The wings are black, and are generally crossed by a broad blue or greenish-blue band, often interrupted below the costa of the fore-wings. In some species the whole of the wings is suffused with rich purple; in others the blue band is confined to the hind-wings, and is reduced to a blue blotch. The most beautiful species is P. praeneste , Hewitson, from New Granada, which might easily be mistaken for an Agrias, but for the much broader fore-wings with the hind-margin concave. It is black, suffused with rich purple, and with a sub-marginal row of scarlet spots. From the base of the fore-wings runs a scarlet band, narrowly continued along the costa for three-fourths of its length, but, beyond the cell, continued in a broad curve to the band of spots at a point opposite the middle of the hind-margin. On the under side the Preponas are varied with different shades of brown and grey; sometimes there is a transverse black or white line, and very frequently a number of short irregular zig-zag lines towards the base. On the hind-wings beneath there is either a sub-marginal row of small eyes between the nervures, or two larger eyes, one towards the tip, and the other towards the anal angle; the latter is sometimes visible above. The larva and pupa resemble those of Apatura ; and notwithstanding the strong and rapid flight of the Butterflies, they are not difficult to capture, as they have the habit of settling on projecting branches of trees, and are not easily alarmed". Description from William Forsell Kirby's A Hand-book to the Order Lepidoptera (1896).
The smooth, hairless larvae have a prominent thoracic hump which may be expanded to expose false eyespots. The colour is variously dark brown and pale brown. The head bears a pair of stout recurved horns and there is a bifid tail. The pupa is green or bluish green with irregular white spots resembling lichen. It is an ovoid shape with a prominent thoracic bulge. It is suspended by the cremaster from a leaf or twig.
The members of the genus Archaeoprepona were formerly also included in Prepona. Species included in Prepona: [2] [3]
▼ Preponini |
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Clade showing phylogenetics of Prepona.
Euploea core, the common crow, is a common butterfly found in South Asia to Australia. In India it is also sometimes referred to as the common Indian crow, and in Australia as the Australian crow. It belongs to the crows and tigers subfamily Danainae.
Catopsilia pomona, the common emigrant or lemon emigrant, is a medium-sized pierid butterfly found in Asia, Cambodia and parts of Australia. The species gets its name from its habit of migration. Some early authors considered them as two distinct species Catopsilia crocale and Catopsilia pomona.
Archaeoprepona demophon, the one-spotted prepona, banded king shoemaker, or demophon shoemaker is a butterfly belonging to the family Nymphalidae.
Mycalesis perseus, the dingy bushbrown or common bushbrown, is a species of satyrine butterfly found in south Asia and southeast Asia.
Lethe drypetis, the Tamil treebrown, is a species of Satyrinae butterfly found in south India and Sri Lanka.
Agrias is a genus of Neotropical charaxine nymphalid butterflies found in South and Central America.
Amblypodia anita, the purple leaf blue or leaf blue, is a lycaenid or blue butterfly found in South Asia and Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Java. The species was first described by William Chapman Hewitson in 1862.
Arhopala bazaloides, the Tamil oakblue, is a species of lycaenid or blue butterfly found in Asia. The Tamil oakblue is found India in, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Apporasa is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae, the blues. The genus is monotypic containing only Apporasa atkinsoni, the crenulate oakblue. It is found in the Indomalayan realm.
Neptis is a large genus of butterflies of Old World tropics and subtropics. They are commonly called sailer butterflies or sailers, or more precisely typical sailers to distinguish them from the related blue sailer (Pseudoneptis).
Hamadryas feronia, the blue cracker or variable cracker, is a species of cracker butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the southern parts of North America and southwards to Brazil.
Acraea acrita, the fiery acraea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in large parts of Africa.
Acraea cabira, the yellow-banded acraea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae that is native to Africa.
Papilio androgeus, the Androgeus swallowtail, queen page, or queen swallowtail, is a Neotropical butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found from Mexico to Argentina with a small population in southern Florida.
Prepona laertes, the shaded-blue leafwing or Laertes prepona, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in large parts of Central and South America.
Pseudohaetera hypaesia, the hypaesia satyr, is a butterfly species from the subfamily Satyrinae in the family Nymphalidae.
Acraea rogersi, the Rogers' large acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae which is native to the African tropics and northern subtropics.
Acraea jodutta, the jodutta acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Prepona pylene, the narrow-banded shoemaker, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by William Chapman Hewitson in 1853. It is found throughout the Amazonian region from Honduras to Paraguay. The habitat consists of rainforests at altitudes between 400 and 1,000 meters.
Arhopala antharita is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It was described by Henley Grose-Smith in 1894. It is found in New Guinea.