''Thereus'' 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 occur essentially all over the

Neotropic The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

s.See references in Savela (2011)

Classification

Though this genus was first proposed long ago, for much of the time ''Thereus'' was included in the " wastebin genus" ''

Thecla Thecla (, ) was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul the Apostle. The earliest record of her life comes from the ancient apocryphal '' Acts of Paul and Thecla''. Church tradition The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla ...

''. However, the two genera are not particularly close relatives among their

. In recent times, it has been proposed to remove several

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), ...

from ''Thereus'' to smaller or even

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 ...

genera. While this might be warranted in some cases, it is not followed here pending more thorough study. The

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

s of ''Thereus'' are thus: * ''Molus'' Hübner, 819/small> * ''Noreena'' K.Johnson, MacPherson & Ingraham, 1986 * ''Pedusa'' D'Abrera, 2001 (may be ''

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 ...

'') * ''Solanorum'' Johnson, 1992 * ''Timokla'' Johnson, Kruse & Kroenlein, 1997

Species

The following named

are placed in ''Thereus'' at present: * '' Thereus brocki'' Robbins, Heredia & Busby, 2015 * '' Thereus caltha'' (Druce, 1907) * '' Thereus cithonius'' (Godart, 824 (

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of ''Noreena'') * '' Thereus columbicola'' (Strand, 1916) * '' Thereus endera'' (Hewitson, 1867) * '' Thereus enenia'' (Hewitson, 1867) (tentatively placed here) * '' Thereus eryssus'' (Herbst, 1800) * '' Thereus gabathana'' (Strand, 1918) * '' Thereus genena'' (Hewitson, 1867) * '' Thereus guianivaga'' (Johnson, 1989) * '' Thereus illex'' (Schaus, 1902) * '' Thereus ismarus'' (Cramer, 777 (type species of ''Molus'') * '' Thereus lausus'' (Cramer,

779 __NOTOC__ Year 779 ( DCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 779 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europ ...

* '' Thereus lomalarga'' Robbins, Heredia & Busby, 2015 * '' Thereus lutzi'' (Huntington, 1932) * ''

Thereus molena ''Thereus'' is a genus of gossamer-winged butterflies (family (biology), family Lycaenidae). Among these, it belongs belong to the tribe (biology), tribe Eumaeini of the subfamily Theclinae. These small butterflies occur essentially all over t ...

'' (E. D. Jones, 1912) * '' Thereus oppia'' (Godman & Salvin,

887 __NOTOC__ Year 887 ( DCCCLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * November 17 – East Frankish magnates revolt against the inept emperor Charles III (the Fat) in an assembly ...

* '' Thereus orasus'' (Godman & Salvin,

* '' Thereus ortalus'' (Godman & Salvin,

* '' Thereus pedusa'' (Hewitson, 1867) (type species of ''"Pedusa"'') * '' Thereus praxis'' (Godman & Salvin,

* '' Thereus pseudarcula'' (Giacomelli, 1914) (type species of ''Solanorum'') * '' Thereus tiasa'' (Hewitson, 1869) * '' Thereus timoclea'' (Hewitson, 1870) * '' Thereus wojtusiaki'' Bálint, 2006 In addition, a number of as yet undescribed butterflies are suspected to belong here too: * ''Thereus'' sp. 'Amazonia' * ''Thereus'' sp. 'Bahia' * ''Thereus'' sp. 'Guatemala' * ''Thereus'' sp. 'Ecuador 1' * ''Thereus'' sp. 'Ecuador 2' * ''Thereus'' sp. 'Panama 1' * ''Thereus'' sp. 'Panama 2' * ''?Thereus'' sp. 'Panama 3' (tentatively placed here) * ''Thereus'' sp. 'Peru'

Footnotes

References

* Eumaeini Lycaenidae of South America Lycaenidae genera Taxa named by Jacob Hübner {{Eumaeini-stub