''Castalius'' 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), 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 ...

. They are commonly known as Pierrots. This name is also often used for the very closely related genus ''

Tarucus ''Tarucus'' is a butterfly genus in the family Lycaenidae. They are commonly known as blue Pierrots or simply Pierrots. The latter name is often used for the closely related genus ''Castalius''. The delimitation of ''Castalius'' versus ''Tarucus' ...

''. In fact, the delimitation of ''Castalius'' versus ''Tarucus'' is not yet fully resolved, with some species, such as the

dark Pierrot ''Tarucus ananda'', the dark Pierrot, is a small butterfly found in India that belongs to the Lycaenidae, lycaenids or blues family. It was formerly placed in the genus ''Castalius'', and with the delimitation of ''Castalius'' versus ''Tarucus'' ...

(''T. ananda''), having been moved between the two genera repeatedly. Regardless of how this may turn out, the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n species formerly placed in ''Castalius'' are now in '' Tuxentius'' (pied Pierrots) and ''

Zintha ''Zintha'' is a butterfly genus in the family Lycaenidae. It is monotypic, with the only species being ''Zintha hintza'', the blue-eyed Pierrot, blue pied Pierrot or Hintza blue. The pied Pierrots proper are the closely related genus '' Tuxentius ...

'' (blue-eyed Pierrot), which are also very close relatives (in particular the former).

Species

Only four

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 placed in ''Castalius'' nowadays. But as noted above, it may be that ''Tarucus'' and the present genus are eventually regarded as

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

ous. In that case, the older name ''Castalius'' would again apply to the two dozen species in question.Brower (2008), and see references in Savela (2009) * '' Castalius clathratus'' (Holland,

891 Year 891 ( DCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * February 21 – Guy III, duke of Spoleto, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Stephen V. His son Lambert is proclaimed ...

Celebes * '' Castalius fasciatus'' (Röber, 1887) Celebes * '' Castalius fluvialis'' (Grose-Smith, 1895) Celebes * '' Castalius rosimon'' (Fabricius, 1775) – common Pierrot

Footnotes

References

* (2008):

Tree of Life Web Project The Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) is an Internet project providing information about the diversity and phylogeny of life on Earth. This collaborative peer reviewed project began in 1995, and is written by biologists from around the world. The s ...

&ndash
''Castalius'' Hübner 1819. Pierrots
Version of 19 May 2008. Retrieved 29 November 2009. * (2009): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms &ndash

Version of 30 March 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2009.

External links

Lycaenidae genera {{Polyommatini-stub