''Ithomeis'' is a

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 butterfly family

Riodinidae Riodinidae is the family of metalmark butterflies. The common name "metalmarks" refers to the small, metallic-looking spots commonly found on their wings. The 1,532 species are placed in 146 genera. Although mostly Neotropical in distribution, ...

present only in the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

Species

*''

Ithomeis aurantiaca ''Ithomeis'' is a genus in the butterfly family Riodinidae present only in the Neotropical realm. Species *''Ithomeis aurantiaca'' Bates, 1862 present in Guyana, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru *''Ithomeis eulema'' Hewitson, 1870 ...

'' Bates, 1862 present in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

*'' Ithomeis eulema'' Hewitson, 1870 present in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, Venezuela and Colombia

Biology

Both species are mimics. The pattern of black, orange, and large translucent areas found in ''Ithomeis'' is shared by toxic genera from the Ithomiinae (examples are '' Ithomia'' and '' Oleria'') and a number of toxic

Arctiidae The Arctiinae (formerly called the family Arctiidae) are a large and diverse subfamily of moths with around 11,000 species found all over the world, including 6,000 neotropical species.Scoble, MJ. (1995). ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and D ...

. The pattern is also shared with several other Riodinidae genera (examples are '' Stalachtis'', '' Ithomiola'', and '' Brachyglenis''), which may be part of mimicry rings. ''I. aurantiaca'' has several

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 ...

; some are very different in appearance and were formerly regarded as full species. '' I. a. satellites'' and '' I. a. astrea'' closely resemble species of ''

Heliconius ''Heliconius'' comprises a colorful and widespread genus of brush-footed butterflies commonly known as the longwings or heliconians. This genus is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the New World, from South America ...

''. Other subspecies include '' I. a. mimica'' and ''I a. stalachtina'', which have extensive orange markings and much reduced

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from , and . Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is named after its glassy appearance on fresh gross pathology. On light microscopy of H&E stained slides, the extracellula ...

areas, and these mimic toxic ithomiines in the genera '' Pseudoscada'', '' Hyposcada'', and '' Hypoleria''. The different subspecies mimic models that share their distribution. The habitat is

tropical forest Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

including

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

at 800–1500 m. The eggs are pink, and laid in clusters of 40 to 50 on the upper side of leaves. The larval food plant is '' Heisteria''.

References

''Ithomeis''
at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
TOL
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1763914 Riodininae Riodinidae of South America Butterfly genera Taxa named by Henry Walter Bates Taxa described in 1862