''Polygonia'' (from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
πολύς - ''polys'', "many" and γωνία - ''gōnia'', "angle") is a
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 ...
of
butterflies
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 ...
with a conspicuous white mark on the underside of each hindwing, hence the common name comma. They also have conspicuous angular notches on the outer edges of their forewings, hence the other common name
anglewing
Nymphalini is a tribe (biology), tribe of nymphalid Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies. Common names include Admiral (disambiguation)#Other uses, admirals, anglewings, Polygonia, commas, and Aglais, tortoiseshells, but none of these is specifi ...
butterflies. The related genus ''
Nymphalis
''Nymphalis'', commonly known as the tortoiseshells or anglewing butterflies, is a genus of Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies. The genera ''Aglais'', ''Inachis'', ''Polygonia'' and ''Kaniska canace, Kaniska'', were sometimes included as subge ...
'' also includes some anglewing species; ''Polygonia'' is sometimes classified as a subgenus of ''Nymphalis''.
Many members of ''Polygonia''
hibernate
Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic reduction entered by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is most ...
as adults.
Species include:
[Wahlberg, N. et al. (2009)]
Timing major conflict between mitochondrial and nuclear genes in species relationships of ''Polygonia'' butterflies (Nymphalidae: Nymphalini).
''BMC Evolutionary Biology'' 9:92.
* ''
Polygonia c-album
''Polygonia c-album'', or the “comma”, is a food generalist (List of feeding behaviours#Classification, polyphagous) butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae. The angular notches on the edges of the forewings are characteristic ...
''
(Linnaeus, 1758) – comma
* ''
Polygonia c-aureum
''Polygonia c-aureum'', the Asian comma, is a middle-size butterfly found in Japan (from Hokkaidō to Tanegashima), Korean Peninsula, China, Taiwan, and Indochina.
Appearance
It has a wingspan of 27 mm. Wings are orange with black dots. Th ...
''
(Linnaeus, 1758) – Asian comma
* ''
Polygonia comma''
(Harris, 1842) – eastern comma
* ''
Polygonia egea''
(Cramer, 1775) – southern comma
* ''
Polygonia faunus''
(Edwards, 1862) – Faunus anglewing, Faunus comma, green comma
* ''
Polygonia g-argenteum
''Polygonia'' (from Greek πολύς - ''polys'', "many" and γωνία - ''gōnia'', "angle") is a genus of butterflies
Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often br ...
''
Doubleday & Hewitson, 1846 – Mexican anglewing
* ''
Polygonia gigantea''
(Leech, 1883) – giant comma
* ''
Polygonia gracilis''
(Grote & Robinson, 1867) – hoary comma
* ''
Polygonia haroldii''
Dewitz, 1877 – spotless anglewing
* ''
Polygonia interposita''
(Staudinger, 1881)
* ''
Polygonia interrogationis
''Polygonia interrogationis'', commonly called the question mark butterfly, is a North American nymphalid butterfly. It lives in wooded areas, city parks, generally in areas with a combination of trees and open space. The color and textured appe ...
''
(Fabricius, 1798) – question mark
* ''
Polygonia oreas''
(Edwards, 1869) – oreas anglewing, oreas comma, sylvan anglewing
* ''
Polygonia progne
''Polygonia progne'', the gray comma or grey comma, is a species of ''Polygonia'' that occurs in North America.
Description
Its wingspan is between 4.4 and 6.3 cm. The top of the wings is bright orange brown while the summer forms often ha ...
''
(Cramer, 1775) – grey comma, gray comma
* ''
Polygonia satyrus''
(Edwards, 1869) – satyr anglewing, satyr comma
* ''
Polygonia undina''
(Grum-Grshimailo, 1890)
* ''
Polygonia zephyrus''
(Edwards, 1870) – zephyr comma
Notes
References
Family Nymphalidae.Butterflies of Canada.
Zdenek Fric.
Nymphalini
Nymphalidae genera
Taxa named by Jacob Hübner
{{Nymphalinae-stub