''Cercyonis oetus'', the small wood-nymph or dark wood-nymph, is a
butterfly
Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
of the family
Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species ha ...
. It is found in western North America.
"''Cercyonis'' Scudder, 1875"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
The wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...
is 32–45 mm. Adults are on wing from June to August in one generation.
The larva
A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...
e feed on various grasses.
Subspecies
There are four recognized subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
:
*''Cercyonis oetus oetus''
*''Cercyonis oetus charon'' (Edwards, 1872)
*''Cercyonis oetus silvestris'' (Edwards, 1861)
*''Cercyonis oetus pallescens'' T. & J. Emmel, 1971
References
External links
Small Wood Nymph
Butterflies and Moths of North America
Small Wood-Nymph
Butterflies of Canada
Cercyonis
Butterflies of North America
Butterflies described in 1869
Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Boisduval
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