''Adelpha bredowii'', the Bredow's sister, is a

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), ...

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 ...

in the

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 ...

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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to western, central, and southern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. ''Adelpha bredowii'' belongs to the ''serpa'' species group in the

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 ...

Adelpha ''Adelpha'' is a genus of brush-footed butterflies found from the southern United States and Mexico to South America. They are commonly known as sisters, due to the white markings on their wings, which resemble a nun's habit. This genus is somet ...

'' (sisters). ''Adelpha bredowii'' previously included two

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 ...

, the California sister (''Adelpha bredowii californica'') and the Arizona sister (''Adelpha bredowii eulalia''). Recent

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

studies, however, conclude that morphological, geographical, and genetic evidence make it clear that these are correctly separate species. They have been reclassified as the species ''

Adelpha californica ''Adelpha californica'', the California sister, is a species of butterfly in the family (biology), family Nymphalidae. They are common in California, but can also be found in western Nevada and Oregon, as well as in northern Baja California. The ...

'' and ''

Adelpha eulalia ''Adelpha eulalia'', the Arizona sister, is a species of butterfly in the family (biology), family Nymphalidae. It occurs from at least Guatemala and Mexico to the southwestern United States, including southeastern California, Arizona, New Mexic ...

'', respectively.

References

Adelpha Nymphalidae of South America Butterflies described in 1837 Taxa named by Carl Geyer {{Nymphalidae-stub