Consul fabius

Tiger leafwing
Ventral view of Consul fabius
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Charaxinae
Genus: Consul
Species: C. fabius
Binomial name
Consul fabius
(Cramer, 1776)
Synonyms

Numerous, see text

Consul fabius, common name tiger leafwing, is the most common and well known species of the genus Consul of subfamily Charaxinae in the brush-footed butterfly family (Nymphalidae). It is found all over the Neotropics.

Description

The length of the forewings reaches about 30–40 millimetres (1.2–1.6 in). The upersides of the wings have a bright orange and black pattern, with two yellow bands across the angular forewings. The hindwings are tailed. This butterfly is part of a mimicry ring, as a matter of fact the cryptic undersides of the wings mimic a dead-leaf. The eggs are laid on the leaves of various species of Piperaceae (Piper tuberculatum, Piper auritum, Piper umbellatum, etc.), of which the caterpillars feed. The caterpillars are dark green with reddish spots along the back,while the chrysalis are pale green.

Distribution

Consul fabius occurs from Mexico to the Amazons (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Surinam, Trinidad, Venezuela).[1]

Habitat

This species is present in deciduous forest, rainforest, and cloud forest. It usually prefers the forest canopy, the banks of rivers and the forest edges, at elevations between sea level and about 1200 m.

Subspecies

Top to bottom: subspecies C. f. quadridentatus, C. f. castaneus, C. f. ochraceus and C. f. albinotatus

Synonyms

References

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/21/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.