Junonia evarete

Junonia evarete (Cramer, 1779), the Tropical Buckeye or West Indian buckeye, is a Neotropical butterfly of the Nymphalids (Nymphalidae) family. It has characteristic eye spots on the wings, which have a wingspan between 4.5 and 6.5 cm. This butterfly is easily confused with Junonia genoveva, the mangrove buckeye. Not only have the common names mangrove and tropical buckeye been confused, but the butterflies themselves have been sometimes misidentified in past literature, because the two species have many variations, subspecies and seasonal forms, which makes it difficult to identify or differentiate.[1][2] Phylogenetic studies demonstrate the separation of evarete and genoveva,[3] but evidence suggests that subspecies and perhaps additional species await their descriptions within this group.[4][5][6]

"Tropical buckeye" redirects here. For the mangrove buckeye, sometimes referred to as tropical buckeye, see Junonia genoveva.

Tropical buckeye
dorsal side – French Guiana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Junonia
Species:
J. evarete
Binomial name
Junonia evarete
(Cramer, [1779])
Synonyms
  • Papilio lavinia Cramer, 1775
  • Papilio cortes Herbst, 1796
  • Papilio esra Fabricius, 1798
  • Junonia divaricata C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867
  • Junonia lavinia arenosa Forbes, [1929]
  • Junonia nigrosuffusa Barnes & McDunnough, 1916
  • and others

Ecology

The Tropical Buckeye distribution ranges from southern North America[2] to South America,[4][7] also occurring in the Caribbean Islands,[1] in a tropical and sub-tropical climate. It inhabits tropical plains, shrub and scrub areas, islands, primary and secondary forests, and urbanized and suburbanized habitats. Adults are nectarivores. Males generally stay in the vegetation or on the ground waiting for receptive females, even all day long. The female deposits her eggs, individually, under the leaves of the plants.[8] The larvae feed on the leaves, preferably on the plants Mock Vervain (Glandularia carolinensis), Cayenne snakeweed (Stachytarpheta cayennensis) and White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa).[9][10] With a very fast and low flight, the tropical buckeye prefers open and sunny fields.

References
  1. R. R. Askew & P. A. van B. Stafford (2008). Butterflies of the Cayman Islands. Apollo Books. p. 46–51. ISBN 9788788757859.
  2. Calhoun, John C. (2010). "The Identities of Papilio evarete Cramer and Papilio genoveva Cramer (Nymphalidae), with Notes on the Occurrence of Junonia evarete in Florida" (PDF). News of the Lepidopterists' Society. 52 (2): 47–51.
  3. Kodandaramaiah, U.; Wahlberg, N. (2007). "Out-of-Africa origin and dispersal-mediated diversification of the butterfly genus Junonia (Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae)". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 20 (8): 2181–91. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01425.x. PMID 17887973.
  4. Neild, A. F. E. (2008). The butterflies of Venezuela. Part 2: Nymphalidae II (Acraeinae, Libytheinae, Nymphalinae, Ithomiinae, Morphinae). A comprehensive guide to the identification of adult Nymphalidae, Papilionidae, and Pieridae. Meridian Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9527657-1-4.
  5. Brévignon, C. (2004). Description de deux nouvelles sous-espèces guadeloupéennes du genre Junonia Hübner, 1819 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Nymphalinae) (in French). 104. Belgium: Lambillionea. p. 72–80.
  6. Lamas, G.; Callaghan, Curtis J. (2004). "Checklist: Part 4A: Hesperioidea – Papilionoidea". In Heppner, J. B. (ed.). Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. 5A. Gainesville, Florida: Scientific Publishers Association for Tropical Lepidoptera.
  7. Marchiori, M. O.; Romanowski, H. P. (2006). "Borboletas (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea e Hesperioidea) do Parque Estadual do Espinilho e entorno, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil" (PDF). Revista Brasileira de Zoologia. 23 (4): 1029–1037. doi:10.1590/S0101-81752006000400007.
  8. Martins, D. S.; Romanowski, H. P. (2014). "Variação fenotípica de Junonia evarete (Lepidoptera; Nymphalidae)" (PDF). XXVI Salão de Iniciação Científica UFRGS.
  9. Warren, A. D.; Davis, K. J.; Stangeland, E. M.; Pelham, J. P.; Grishin, N. V. (2017). "Illustrated Lists of American Butterflies (North and South America) 21-XI-2017".
  10. Beccaloni, G. W.; Hall, S. K.; Viloria, A.; Robinson, G. S. (2008). Catálogo de las Plantas Huésped de las Mariposas Neotropicales [Catalogue of the Hostplants of the Neotropical Butterflies].


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