''Libythea cinyras'' was a species of

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

nymphalid 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 have ...

subfamily

Libytheinae The Libytheinae are a nymphalid subfamily known as snout butterflies, containing two valid genera and about ten species: six in ''Libythea'' and four in '' Libytheana''. The common name refers to the thick labial palps (pedipalps) that look like ...

. It is now thought to be extinct. It was

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 ...

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

. The only known specimen is the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

.. 2007
''Libythea cinyras'' Trimen 1866
In
The Tree of Life Web Project
Version 3 December 2007 (under construction). Retrieved 31 October 2009.

References

External links

''Libythea cinyras'' holotype
Butterflies described in 1866 Libythea Extinct butterflies Endemic fauna of Mauritius Extinct insects since 1500 Extinct animals of Mauritius Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Roland Trimen Species known from a single specimen {{Nymphalidae-stub