__NOTOC__

''Thereus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

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 butterfly ...

(

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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 usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

Eumaeini of the subfamily

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 bioge ...

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 Wastebasket taxon (also called a wastebin taxon, dustbin taxon or catch-all taxon) is a term used by some taxonomists to refer to a taxon that has the sole purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically define ...

" ''

Thecla Thecla ( grc, Θέκλα, ) 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 ...

''. However, the two genera are not particularly close relatives among their subfamily. In recent times, it has been proposed to remove several

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 "unispe ...

genera. While this might be warranted in some cases, it is not followed here pending more thorough study. The junior synonyms of ''Thereus'' are thus: * ''Molus'' Hübner, 819/small> * ''Noreena'' K.Johnson, MacPherson & Ingraham, 1986 * ''Pedusa'' D'Abrera, 2001 (may be '' nomen nudum'') * ''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 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 species that contains the biological type specime ...

of ''Noreena'') * '' Thereus columbicola'' (Strand, 1916) * '' Thereus endera'' (Hewitson, 1867) * ''

Thereus enenia __NOTOC__ ''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 a ...

'' (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 Eur ...

* '' Thereus lomalarga'' Robbins, Heredia & Busby, 2015 * '' Thereus lutzi'' (Huntington, 1932) * '' Thereus molena'' (E. D. Jones, 1912) * '' Thereus oppia'' (Godman & Salvin, 887 * '' Thereus orasus'' (Godman & Salvin, 887 * '' Thereus ortalus'' (Godman & Salvin, 887 * '' Thereus pedusa'' (Hewitson, 1867) (type species of ''"Pedusa"'') * '' Thereus praxis'' (Godman & Salvin, 887 * '' 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