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Narrative
Morpho butterflies (Family Morphodae) are characterized by their large size and brilliant blue colors. They typically have small bodies and fly with a floating or soaring style. They are found only in the American tropics from Mexico to Southern Brazil.
Because of the brilliant blue colors, large size, and beautiful patterns, many species of these Morphos were used for art work projects from l930 to l990. Cities such as Tingo Maria (Peru), Obidos (Brazil), Santa Catarina (Brazil), and Muzo (Colombia) had networks of collectors that exported large quantities of these beautiful butterflies. Fortunately, the reproductive powers of these species were great, and the collecting seems to have had little impact on the quantity in nature. However, land clearing projects in the natural habitats will impact their populations.
This group's taxonomy is very complicated. For extensive information refer to the Le Moult and Real revision of "Les Morpho D'Amerique Du Sud Et Centrale" published by Le Moult in l962. Prior to this Le Moult revision, there were hundreds of different named forms. Le Moult reduced the species to less than 80 species, and showed that there are some cases of convergent evolution in the family and some surprising mimicry pairs.
Le Moult's work has not generally been accepted by the lepidopterists community. This is no doubt partially because it is in French, and partially because the taxonomy is so complicated that many people do not have the patience to unravel the complicated problems. However, the serious butterfly student will be really rewarded when he can understand that Morpho achilles and Morpho helenor are really a mimicry pair and not sibling species.
Morphos are divided into several different subgenera. The subgenus name is used in several instances as opposed to the common term "Morpho."
Taxonomy
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Latin
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English
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Kingdom
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Animalia
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Animal
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Phylum
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Arthropoda
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Jointed Legged Animals
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Class
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Insecta
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Insects
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Order
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Lepidoptera
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Butterflies And Moths
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Family
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Morphodae
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Morpho Butterflies
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SubFamily
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References
| Title | Author | Comments |
| Les Morpho D' Amerique du sud et Centrale | Le Moult, E. | |
| International Butterfly Book | Smart, Paul | This book has had numerous printings and various titles including some including words such as butterfly encyclopedia. The accuracy of the book is superb, and the color photogrphs showing about 2,000 different species are excellent. This is a must have for the beginning student of world wide butterflies. With the exception of the D'Abrera books which are more complete, this work is the best book we have seen. |
| Eastern Moths | Covell, Charles V., Jr. | This excellent book covers the moths of the eastern United States and Canada. Most species are pictured with color photographs, but some of the smaller species are shown with black and white photographs. 650 are shown in color and 650 are shown in black and white to total about 1,300 species covered. |
| Butterflies of Africa | Williams, John G. | 436 species are described and 283 are illustrated in color. Although not all of the butterfly species found in Africa are shown, this guide covers most of the larger and more colorful species. |
| Butterflies of the West Indies | Riley, Norman D. | A comprehensive guide to the identification of Caribbean butterflies with 338 illustrations. This book fills an important need as there are books on USA butterflies and books on neotropical butterflies, but in many instances the insular butterflies are ignored even though many unique forms are present in the area. |
| Concise Atlas of the Butterflies of the World | D'Abrera, Bernard | Although not up to the previous standards set by the same author for his superb series on butterfliles by each geographic region, this is the best book published to date to serve as a summary of the world of butterflies. For somebody on a limited budget, this book is highly recommended. |
| Butterflies of Britain & Europe | Chinery, Michael | This is a truly excellent field guide. All specimens are shown in photographs taken in natural environments. |
| Butterflies of the Oriental Region, Part II | D'Abrera, Bernard | Bernard D'Abrera has spent his life photographing, studying, and writing about the collections at the British Museum. His superb works on butterflies contain all species portrayed life size, with many females, and many subspecies pictured. The butterfly scientist will find these books of great value. This volume covers Nymphalidae, Satyridae, and Amathusidae of the oriental region. |
| Butterfiles of the Afrotropical Region | D'Abrera, Bernard | Bernard D'Abrera has spent his life photographing, studying, and writing about the collections at the British Museum. His superb works on butterflies contain all species portrayed life size, with many females; many subspecies pictured. The butterfly scientist will find these books of great value. This large volume covers all families of African butterflies. |
| Butterflies of the Oriental Region, Part I | D'Abrera, Bernard | Bernard D'Abrera has spent his life photographing, studying, and writing about the collections at the British Museum. His superb works on butterflies contain all species portrayed life size, with many females, and many subspecies pictured. The butterfly scientist will find these books of great value. This volume covers the Papilionidae, Pieridae, and Danaidae of the oriental region. |
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