''Tuxentius'' is a
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 ...
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
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of ...
. They are commonly known as pied Pierrots or
pies
A pie is a Baking, baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweetness, sweet or Savoury taste, savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts (pecan pie) ...
. Contained in this genus are the
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
n species formerly placed in ''
Castalius
''Castalius'' is a butterfly genus in the family Lycaenidae. They are commonly known as Pierrots. This name is also often used for the very closely related genus '' Tarucus''.
In fact, the delimitation of ''Castalius'' versus ''Tarucus'' is not ...
'', except the blue-eyed Pierrot (sometimes called blue pied Pierrot) which is separated in ''
Zintha''.
[Brower (2008), and see references in Savela (2007)]
Species
The members of genus ''Tuxentius'' are:
* ''
Tuxentius calice''
(Hopffer, 1855) – white Pierrot
* ''
Tuxentius carana''
(Hewitson, 1876) – forest pied Pierrot
* ''
Tuxentius cretosus''
(Butler, 1876) – savanna pied Pierrot
* ''
Tuxentius ertli''
(Aurivillius, 1907) – Ertli's Pierrot
* ''
Tuxentius gabrieli''
Balint, 1999 – Gabriel's Pierrot
* ''
Tuxentius hesperis''
(Vári, 1976) – western pie
* ''
Tuxentius kaffana''
(Talbot, 1935)
* ''
Tuxentius margaritaceus''
(Sharpe, 1892) – mountain pied Pierrot
* ''
Tuxentius melaena''
(Trimen, 1887) – dark pied Pierrot
* ''
Tuxentius stempfferi''
(Kielland, 1976) – Stempffer's Pierrot
Footnotes
References
* (2008):
Tree of Life Web Project
The Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) is an Internet project providing information about the diversity and phylogeny of life on Earth.
This collaborative peer reviewed project began in 1995, and is written by biologists from around the world. The s ...
&ndash
''Tuxentius'' Larsen 1982. The Pied Pierrots Version of 2008-MAY-19. Retrieved 2009-NOV-29.
* (2007): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms &ndash
Version of 2007-MAY-20. Retrieved 2009-NOV-29.
Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 73
Polyommatini
Lycaenidae genera
{{Polyommatini-stub