''Morpho amphitryon'' is a

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bi ...

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

Description

''Morpho amphitryon'' is a very large butterfly with a wingspan of 150–160 mm. The top of the wings is a blue grey metallic colour with a wide grey border embellished by a submarginal row of white spots. The outer edge of the forewing is concave and the hindwings have a scalloped edge. "''amphitrion'' Stgr. s race of ''Morpho theseus''">Morpho_theseus.html" ;"title="s race of ''Morpho theseus">s race of ''Morpho theseus'' from Chanchamayo, South Peru, has the forewing much elongated, with the cell blue-grey. Males also occur with the upper surface suffused with blue-white throughout."Fruhstorfer, H. 1913. Family: Morphidae. In A. Seitz (editor), ''Macrolepidoptera of the World'', vol. 5: 333–356. Stuttgart: Alfred Kernen.

Habitat

''Morpho amphitryon'' lives in Andean montane forests at altitudes from 700 to 2000 metres above sea level.

Status

''Morpho amphitryon'' is a Rare species">"scarce" or rare species.

Subspecies

*''M. a. amphitryon'' (Peru) *''M. a. azurita'' Duchêne et Blandin, 2009 *''M. a. susarion'' Fruhstorfer, 1913 (Bolivia) *''M. a. cinereus'' Duchêne, 1985 (Peru)

Distribution

This species is present in Bolivia and Peru. The northernmost population is in the mountain chain which forms the border between the Amazonas Region, Amazonas and San Martín Region, San Martín departments. It is a Tropical Andes species.

References

* Eugène Le Moult, Le Moult (E.) & Réal (P.), 1962-1963. ''Les Morpho d'Amérique du Sud et Centrale'', Editions du cabinet entomologique E. Le Moult, Paris. *Duchêne, G. & Blandin, P., 2009. Les sous-espèces de Morpho (Iphimedeia) amphitryon Staudinger, 1887 en Bolivie et dans le sud du Pérou, et leurs rapports avec les sous-espèces de Morpho (Iphimedia) telemachus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae, Morphinae). ''Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France''. 114(3) : 373-382. *Paul Smart, 1976 ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World in Color''. London, Salamander: ''Encyclopedie des papillons''. Lausanne, Elsevier Sequoia (French language edition) page 231 fig.4 (Peru)

External links

Butterflies of America
Images of

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and other specimens.
"''Morpho'' Fabricius, 1807"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''

Images from Naturhistorisches Museum Wien Morpho Nymphalidae of South America Butterflies described in 1887 Taxa named by Otto Staudinger {{Morphinae-stub