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Narrative
Subgenus Morpho with 31 species comprises the rest of the Morpho family. Generally hard to tell apart, they are often simply called Morpho "achilles." The group exhibits mimicry and convergent evolution. The taxonomy is as complicated as the Heliconids. Similar species have been grouped together here.
SPECIES - - - - - LOCATION
Morpho deidamia - Venezuela & east Brazil & Bolivia
Morpho neoptolemus - Peru to Obidos, Brazil to Colombia
Morpho brisseis - Peru
Morpho hermione - Colombia
Morpho electra - Bolivia and Venezuela (Disjoint)
Morpho lycanor - Colombia to Venezuela
Morpho granadensis - Colombia to Central America
Morpho rugitaeniata - Colombia
Morpho micropthalmus - Colombia
Morpho taboga - Isle off Panama
Morpho peleides - Venezuela and south Colombia
Morpho marinita - Costa Rica and Panama
Morpho montezuma - Mexico to Panama
Morpho octavia - Guatemala to Costa Rica to Panama
Morpho hyacinthus - Mexico to Panama
Morpho corydon - Venezuela and Colombia
Morpho confusa - Colombia
Morpho peleus - Venezuela
Morpho tobagensis - Caribbean
Morpho parallela - North South America
Morpho helenor - Peru to Colombia to Obidos, Brazil
Morpho papirius - Peru
Morpho achilleana - East Brazil and Amazon Basin
Morpho trojana - Brazil and local populations
Morpho leontius - widespread in South America
Morpho coelestis - Bolivia and eastward
Morpho achilles - Venez. to Obidos, Brazil, to Columbia & Argentina (Disjoint)
Morpho patroclus - Peru to Colombia
Morpho pseudogamedes - Peru to Colombia
Morpho guaraunos - Bolivia and Venezuela (Disjoint)
Morpho vitrea - Bolivia and Venezuela (Disjoint)
Morpho neoptolemus-deidamia subgroup is found from Peru to Colombia to eastern Brazil. This group can be recognized by the silver streaking pattern on the underside of the wings.
Morpho helenor subgroup (helenor, papirius, achilleana, trojana, leontius, and coelestis) generally has a rear wing rounded at the corner farthest from the body near the front wing. Their rear wings are more rounded than in the Morpho achilles subgroup.
Morpho achilles subgroup (achilles, patroclus, pseudogamedes, and guaraunos) has a less rounded rear wing than the Morpho helenor subgroup. The corner of the rear wing farthest from the body has a sharper corner than in the M. helenor subgroup. This sharper corner can be noticed very easily by studying the marginal pattern on the underside of the rear wing. In the achilles subgroup, this pattern ends abruptly along the edge of the rear wing toward the front wings. In the M. helenor subgroup, these marginal lines tend to flow around the corner. There are several mimicry pairs between the Morpho achilles and Morpho helenor subgroups.
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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Morpho Subgenus
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Morphos (blue Banded Group)
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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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