Mestra (butterfly)
Mestra dorcas
Mestra dorcas is a butterfly ( butterfly ) of the family Nymphalidae ( Nymphalidae ).
- 5.1 Notes and references
- 5.2 Literature
Description
Butterfly
The wingspan of the butterfly is 35 to 50 millimeters. The ground color of the upper wing surface is milky white. The Submarginalregion the front wing is colored orange or gray. From the dark leading edge of a comma -shaped Diskalfleck goes out. Specific type is the broad orange or yellow ribbon in the Submarginalregion of the hind wings. The underwings show similar drawing elements such as the tops, but they are usually configured color more vivid. Because of the characteristic drawing the moths are unmistakable.
Caterpillar
Adults caterpillars have a black base color and are fitted on the back and sides with many black spines. On the head are two long, thin, black, straight horns, the spherical phased out at the end.
Distribution and habitat
The range of the species begins in North Texas, where the subspecies Mestra dorcas Amymone occurs. Sometimes the butterflies migrate further north as Minnesota. The south inhabited Mestra dorcas Central America and large parts of South America. The species lives mainly in subtropical areas, preferably in fields and forest edges.
Way of life
In Texas, the moths fly in several generations throughout the year. To accommodate nectar they like to suck on the flowers of Lantana ( Lantana ). The caterpillars feed on the leaves of spurge ( Euphorbiaceae ), for example by Dalechampia scandens, Tragia volubilis and Tragia neptifolia.
Subspecies
The following sub- types can be distinguished:
- Dorcas dorcas Mestra (Fabricius, 1775), Jamaica
- Mestra dorcas Amymone ( Ménétries, 1857), in Texas, Nicaragua and Costa Rica
- Mestra dorcas apicalis (Staudinger, 1886), Brazil (Sao Paulo, Pará, Goiás), Bolivia and Argentina
- Mestra dorcas Hersilia (Fabricius, 1777), in Colombia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia
- Mestra dorcas Hypermestra ( Hübner, 1825), in Brazil (Pará ) and Paraguay
- Mestra dorcas latimargo ( Hall, 1929), Ecuador
- Mestra dorcas semifulva ( C. & R. Felder, 1867), in Colombia