''Phocides belus'', the beautiful beamer or Belus skipper, is a skipper in the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a group of butterflies placed in the family Hesperiidae within the order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea, but have since been placed in the superfamily Papilion ...

. It is found from Mexico to Costa Rica. Strays have been reported as far north as

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 ...

. The wings have a powder-blue hue. Last

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

larvae reach a length of 38 mm. They are mostly uniform white with a light brown head capsule. They feed on ''

Thouinidium decandrum ''Thouinidium'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Sapindaceae. Distribution and habitat The native range of species in the genus is from Mexico to Central America, as well as in the Caribbean in Cuba and Hispaniola (the Domin ...

''.

References

External links

Photos of live adult specimens

Eudaminae Butterflies described in 1890 Butterflies of Central America Taxa named by Frederick DuCane Godman Taxa named by Osbert Salvin Lepidoptera of the United States Lepidoptera of Mexico Fauna of Costa Rica {{Hesperiidae-stub