''Atlides'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

gossamer-winged butterflies Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfl ...

(

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Lycaenidae). Among these, it belongs belong to the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Eumaeini The Eumaeini are a tribe of gossamer-winged butterflies (family Lycaenidae). They are typically placed in the subfamily Theclinae, but sometimes considered a separate subfamily Eumaeinae. Over 1,000 species are found in the Neotropical realm S ...

of the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Theclinae The subfamily Theclinae is a group of butterflies, often referred to as hairstreaks, with some species instead known as elfins or by other names. The group is part of the family Lycaenidae, the "gossamer-winged butterflies". There are many tropi ...

. These small butterflies are widespread in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, occurring almost anywhere between the southern United States and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Species

18 named and 5 (or more) undescribed

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

are known or assumed to belong to this genus: * '' Atlides atys'' (Cramer, 1779) - Costa Rica to southern Brazil * '' Atlides bacis'' (Godman & Salvin, 1887) - Costa Rica to southern Brazil * '' Atlides browni'' Constantino, 1993 - Colombia and Ecuador * '' Atlides carpasia'' (Hewitson, 1868) - Mexico to Panama * '' Atlides carpophora'' (Hewitson, 1868) - Mexico to western Ecuador, Northern Venezuela to eastern Peru * '' Atlides cosa'' (Hewitson, 1867) - eastern Brazil * '' Atlides dahnersi'' Bálint, 2003, - western Colombia * '' Atlides gaumeri'' (Godman, 1901) - Mexico to Panama. * ''

Atlides halesus The great purple hairstreak (''Atlides halesus''), also called the great blue hairstreak, is a common gossamer-winged butterfly species in parts of the United States. It is actually a Neotropical species; its North American range only includes ...

'' (Cramer, 1777) - U.S. and Mexico, south to Guatemala and Costa Rica. (great purple hairstreak, great blue hairstreak) * '' Atlides halljasoni'' Bálint, 2006 - Colombia to Peru * '' Atlides havila'' (Hewitson, 1865) - Colombia to Peru * '' Atlides inachus'' (Cramer, 1775) - Amazonian Region * '' Atlides misma'' D'Abrera, 1995 - eastern and central Brazil * '' Atlides polama'' (Schaus, 1902) - eastern Brazil * '' Atlides polybe'' (Linnaeus, 1763) - Mexico to southern Brazil * '' Atlides rustan'' (Stoll, 1790) - Mexico to southern Brazil * '' Atlides thargelia'' (Burmeister, 1878) - Bolivia to Uruguay * '' Atlides zava'' (Hewitson, 1878) - eastern Brazil * ''Atlides'' sp. 'Bahia' * ''Atlides'' sp. 'Colombia' * ''Atlides'' sp. 'Costa Rica' * ''Atlides'' sp. 'Ecuador' * ''Atlides'' sp. 'Peru' '' A. thargelia'' was recently proposed for separation as

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus ''"Riojana"'', but it was subsequently argued to be a ''

nomen nudum In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published ...

'' per Article 13.1 of the

ICZN Code The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, t ...

, because an appropriate genus description was not given. The matter has been submitted to the ICZN for discussion. Regardless the questions of nomenclature, ''A. thargelia'' is for the time being retained here; given that several undescribed relatives are known to exist, splitting off monotypic lineages now runs risk of leaving the remaining group

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

Footnotes

References

* (2011): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms &ndash
''Atlides''
Version of December 22, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2012.

External links

*
''Atlides'' images at EOL
Eumaeini Lycaenidae of South America Lycaenidae genera Taxa named by Jacob Hübner {{Eumaeini-stub