''Cyrestis'' is a butterfly genus in 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 ...

. They are known as map butterflies, so named because the wing-markings of some species resemble the lines of latitude and longitude of a world map. ''Cyrestis'' is a widespread genus ranging from

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 ...

to parts of the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

and parts of the

Australasian realm The Australasian realm is one of eight biogeographic realms that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua Ne ...

(

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

Description

The following characteristics apply to all the species of ''Cyrestis''. They are very delicate and strikingly coloured with exceedingly tender and thin, but unusually large wings whose surface is out of all proportion with the slightly-built, slender and delicate body. The eyes are large, prominent and naked; palpi long, pointed, beak-like, slightly curved upwards, resembling those of the genus ''

Libythea ''Libythea'' is a widespread genus of Nymphalidae, nymphalid butterfly, butterflies commonly called beaks or snouts. They are strong fliers and may even be migratory. Classification * Source The higher classification of Nymphalidae, at Nympha ...

''. The principal and most striking markings found on both wings in all the species consist in finer or coarser blackish bands running parallel to the body and at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the wings; of these bands always three unite on each wing to form a broader submarginal fascia. In the white-coloured species these bands or streaks are so fine that, in combination with the frequently black veins, they remind one of the meridian lines on a map, which has given rise in British India and the Straits to the popular and expressive name “the Map”. Seitz, A. 1912–1927. ''Die Indo-Australien Tagfalter''. ''The Macrolepidoptera of the World'' 9: 1–76
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767–120
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Species

*'' Cyrestis achates'' Butler, 1865 *'' Cyrestis acilia'' (Godart,

824 __NOTOC__ Year 824 ( DCCCXXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By date * February 8 – The Tenchō era begins in Japan at the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Junna, bringing an end to the ...

*'' Cyrestis andamanensis'' Staudinger *'' Cyrestis adaemon'' Godman & Salvin, 1879 *'' Cyrestis camillus'' (Fabricius, 1781) *'' Cyrestis cassander'' C. & R. Felder, 1863 *'' Cyrestis cocles'' (Fabricius, 1787) *'' Cyrestis heracles'' Staudinger, 1896 *'' Cyrestis irmae'' Forbes, 1885 *'' Cyrestis kudrati'' Jumalon, 1975 *'' Cyrestis lutea'' (Zinken, 1831) *'' Cyrestis maenalis'' Erichson, 1834 *'' Cyrestis nais'' Wallace, 1869 *'' Cyrestis nivea'' (Zinken, 1831) *'' Cyrestis paulinus'' C. & R. Felder, 1860 *'' Cyrestis tabula'' de Nicéville, 1883 *'' Cyrestis telamon'' (Linnaeus, 1758) *'' Cyrestis themire'' Honrath,

884 __NOTOC__ Year 884 ( DCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * March 1 – Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, count of Castile, founds and repopulates (''repoblación'') Burgos a ...

/small> *'' Cyrestis theresae'' de Nicéville, 1894 *''

Cyrestis thyodamas ''Cyrestis thyodamas'', the common map, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It was Species description, first described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1836. It is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Descriptio ...

'' Boisduval, 1846 *'' Cyrestis thyonneus'' (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 ...

References

External links

images representing ''Cyrestis''
at

Consortium for the Barcode of Life The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...

Cyrestinae Nymphalidae genera Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Boisduval Taxa described in 1832 {{Nymphalidae-stub