''Philaethria pygmalion'' is a
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 ...
of 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 have a re ...
. It was described by
Hans Fruhstorfer
Hans Fruhstorfer (7 March 1866, in Passau, Germany – 9 April 1922, in Munich) was a German explorer, insect trader and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. He collected and described new species of exotic butterflies, especially in A ...
in 1912. It is found from eastern
Colombia to central
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
The larvae feed on ''
Passiflora
''Passiflora'', known also as the passion flowers or passion vines, is a genus of about 550 species of flowering plants, the type genus of the family Passifloraceae.
They are mostly tendril-bearing vines, with some being shrubs or trees. Th ...
'' species ''
P. coccinea'', ''
P. faroana'', ''
P. hexagonocarpa'', ''
P. mansoi'' and ''
P. phaeocaula''.
TOL
/ref>
Subspecies
*''Philaethria pygmalion pygmalion'' (southern Colombia and Venezuela to central Brazil)
*''Philaethria pygmalion metaensis'' Constantino & Salazar 2010 (Colombia: Meta)
References
"''Philaethria pygmalion'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912)"
''Insecta.pro''. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
Butterflies described in 1912
Heliconiini
Fauna of Brazil
Nymphalidae of South America
{{Heliconiinae-stub