Methona

Methona
	Male of the species Methona confusa
Systematics
Class :	Insects (Insecta)
Order :	Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family :	Noble butterfly (Nymphalidae)
Subfamily :	Danainae
Tribe :	Ithomiini
Genre :	Methona
Scientific name
	Methona
	Doubleday , 1847

Methona is a genus of butterflies withinthe noble butterfly family (Nymphalidae).

features

Side view of the abdomen

The representatives of the genus Methona are medium-sized butterflies that reach a wingspan of seven to ten centimeters. The caterpillars are strikingly colored.

Way of life

The caterpillars of the genus Methona live gregariously and feed exclusively on leaves of the genus Brunfelsia ( nightshade family (Solanaceae)). The following table shows the known relationships between the caterpillars of individual Methona species and the Brunfelsia species used as forage plants .

	M. confusa	M. megisto	M. singularis	M. themisto
B. amazonica	×
B. australis				×
B. dwyeri	×
B. grandiflora	×	×
B. pauciflora	×			×
B. mire		×
B. martiana		×
B. uniflora			×	×

Occurrence

The distribution area of the genus largely coincides with the South American distribution area of the caterpillar forage plants of the genus Brunfelsia . The largest number of the species is found in the Andes , three species are native to the Amazon basin , two in northeastern Brazil and one species in southeastern Brazil. A disjoint population of Methona confusa in the Cerro Jefe in Panama is considered a subspecies in its own right. Methona are not found in the West Indies , where some species of Brunfelsia are native . Specimens of the genus have been found in western Argentina , although no Brunfelsia are native there. It is likely that the caterpillars there feed on plants grown in gardens.

Systematics

The genus Methona comprises seven species and some subspecies:

Methona confusa Butler, 1873
- Methona confusa confusa
- Methona confusa psamathe
Methona curvifascia Weymer, 1883
Methona grandior (Forbes, 1944)
- Methona grandior grandior
- Methona grandior incana
Methona maxima (Forbes, 1944)
- Methona maxima maxima
- Methona maxima nigerrima
Methona megisto C. & R. Felder, 1860
Methona singularis (Staudinger, [1884])
Methona themisto (Huebner, 1818)
- Methona themisto themisto

literature

Tommaso Racheli, Luigi Racheli: An Annotated List Of Ecuadorian Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae). In: Fragmenta entomologica. Rom, 33 (2), 2001, pp. 212-380.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Timothy C. Plowman (Author), Sandra Knapp, JR Press (Ed.): A Revision of the South American Species of Brunfelsia (Solanaceae) . (= Fieldiana Botany, New Series, number 39). Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago August 1998.
^ VZ Andrew Brower: The Tree of Life Web Project: Methona Doubleday 1847. Retrieved March 5, 2008 .
^ Lepidoptera and some other Life Forms: Methona Doubleday, [1847]. Markku Savela, accessed March 5, 2008 .

Web links

Commons : Methona - collection of images, videos and audio files

Adrian Hoskins: Butterflies of the World.

[Plowman-1] Timothy C. Plowman (Author), Sandra Knapp, JR Press (Ed.): A Revision of the South American Species of Brunfelsia (Solanaceae) . (= Fieldiana Botany, New Series, number 39). Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago August 1998.

[Tree_of_Life-2] VZ Andrew Brower: The Tree of Life Web Project: Methona Doubleday 1847. Retrieved March 5, 2008 .

[Savela-3] Lepidoptera and some other Life Forms: Methona Doubleday, [1847]. Markku Savela, accessed March 5, 2008 .