''Precis'' is a genus of

nymphalid 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 ...

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 ...

that

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

described in 1819. They are commonly known as commodores and are found in

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 ...

. Two species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Description

''Precis'' are medium-to-large butterflies (wingspan up to 5 cm). The upperside ground colour is black with white, pink, green, or blue spots and bands, the upperside may also have a brownish ground colour. The wings often have eyespots. The outer wing margins are wavy and toothed or scalloped. Several species occur in multiple colour forms (morphs). They tend to have distinct rainy-season and dry-season forms, that of the gaudy commodore being the most extreme. Transitional forms are also known.

Biology

''Precis'' are

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

species. They are good fliers. The larvae feed on

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil (herb), ba ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Precis'' is closely allied to ''

Junonia ''Junonia'' is a genus of nymphalid butterflies, described by Jacob Hübner in 1819. They are commonly known as buckeyes, pansies or commodores. This genus flies on every continent except Antarctica and Europe. The genus contains roughly 30 to 3 ...

''. The two genera differ in the structure of their genitalia and larval food plant choice. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus is '' Precis octavia''.

Species

Listed alphabetically:"''Precis'' Hübner, [1819]"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' * ''Precis actia">819]"">"''Precis'' Hübner, [1819]"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' * ''Precis actia'' Distant, 1880 — air commodore * ''Precis andremiaja'' Boisduval, 1833 * ''Precis antilope'' (Feisthamel, 1850) — darker commodore * ''Precis archesia'' (Cramer, [1779]) — garden inspector or garden commodore * '' Precis ceryne'' (Boisduval, 1847) — marsh commodore * ''

Precis coelestina ''Precis coelestina'', the ocellated commodore, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa, Kasai, Sankuru ...

'' Dewitz, 1879 — ocellated commodore * ''

Precis cuama ''Precis cuama'', the paler commodore, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Shaba), eastern and central Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.j ...

'' (Hewitson, 1864) — paler commodore * ''

Precis eurodoce ''Precis eurodoce'', the Madagascar commodore, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found on Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerou ...

'' (Westwood, 1850) — Madagascar commodore * ''

Precis frobeniusi ''Precis frobeniusi'', the toothed commodore, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and northern Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. ...

'' Strand, 1909 — toothed commodore * ''

Precis koivoguii PRECIS (Providing REgional Climates for Impacts Studies, pronounced pray-sea) is developed at the Hadley Centre at the UK Met Office, PRECIS is a regional climate modelling system designed to run on a Linux-based PC. PRECIS can be applied to any a ...

'' Sáfián & Florczyk & Takano, 2023 — Nimba commodore * ''

Precis limnoria ''Precis limnoria'', the white-spotted commodore, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East ...

'' (Klug, 1845) — white-spotted commodore * ''

Precis milonia ''Precis milonia'', the broad-banded commodore, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a ...

'' C.&R.Felder, 867/small> — broad-banded commodore * '' Precis octavia'' (Cramer, 777 — gaudy commodore * ''

Precis pelarga ''Precis pelarga'', the fashion commodore, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae which is native to tropical sub-Saharan Africa. Description ''Precis pelarga'' has a wingspan reaching about . The forewings are falcate. A clearer ba ...

'' (Fabricius, 1775) — fashion commodore * ''

Precis rauana ''Precis rauana'', the montane commodore, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Nigeria, from Cameroon to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. The habitat consists of forests. Both se ...

'' (Grose-Smith, 1898) — montane commodore * ''

Precis sinuata ''Precis sinuata'', the wide-banded commodore, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, the Republic of the Congo, ...

'' Plötz, 1880 — wide-banded commodore * ''

Precis tugela ''Precis tugela'', the African leaf butterfly or eared commodore, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in eastern and southern Africa, ranging from Ethiopia to South Africa. It is commonly included in the genus ''Junonia'' rathe ...

'' Trimen, 1879 — African leaf butterfly, dry-leaf butterfly or eared commodore ''

Incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

'' * ''

Precis permagna PRECIS (Providing REgional Climates for Impacts Studies, pronounced pray-sea) is developed at the Hadley Centre at the UK Met Office, PRECIS is a regional climate modelling system designed to run on a Linux-based PC. PRECIS can be applied to any ...

'' Martin, 1920

References

Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 51 et seq.

External links

Images representing ''Precis'' at EOL
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7239493 Junoniini Butterfly genera Taxa named by Jacob Hübner