''Diaethria anna'', also known as Anna's eighty-eight or Finita Burrasca , 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 ...

in wet tropical forests in Middle America. On rare occasions, it can be found as a stray in south

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Its upperside is dark brown with a metallic bluish-green band on the forewings. The underside of the forewings are red, which is followed by a wide, black band and then white tips; the underside of the hindwings is white, with lines that approximate a black-outlined " 88", giving the species its common name. Its markings occasionally appear more like of " 98" or " 89". The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s feed on tropical plants in the families

Ulmaceae The Ulmaceae () are a family (biology), family of flowering plants that includes the elms (genus ''Ulmus''), and the zelkovas (genus ''Zelkova''). Members of the family are widely distributed throughout the Temperate, north temperate zone, and ha ...

and

Sapindaceae The Sapindaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1,858 accepted species. Examples include Aesculus, horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee. The ...

. Adults feed on rotting fruit and dung.

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 ...

are: * ''Diaethria anna anna'' * ''Diaethria anna salvadorensis''

References

Species Detail: Anna's Eighty-eight. Butterflies and Moths of North America
Biblidinae Butterflies described in 1844 Butterflies of Central America Nymphalidae of South America Taxa named by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville Lepidoptera of Mexico Lepidoptera of Brazil Lepidoptera of Colombia Lepidoptera of Peru Lepidoptera of Venezuela {{Biblidinae-stub