''Rhetus periander'', the Periander metalmark or variable beautymark,Glassberg, J. (2007) A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America, Sunstreak Books, p. 61 is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family

Riodinidae Riodinidae is the family of metalmark butterflies. The common name "metalmarks" refers to the small, metallic-looking spots commonly found on their wings. The 1532 species are placed in 146 genera. Although mostly Neotropical in distribution, t ...

. It is found in most of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, ranging from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

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 ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

.''Rhetus''
at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera

Subspecies

The following subspecies are recognised: *''Rhetus periander arthuriana'' (Goiás, Brazil) *''Rhetus periander eleusinus'' (Brazil: São Paulo, Santa Catarina and Rio de Janeiro) *''Rhetus periander periander'' (Suriname) *''Rhetus periander laonome'' (Colombia) *''Rhetus periander naevianus'' (Honduras to Costa Rica) ''Reproduction'' Female Rhetus Periander search for the host plants to lay eggs on. This is done on the hottest hours of the day. The average number of eggs laid are 1-2. The process from egg to full adult for Rhetus Periander is a full 50 days.

References

3. Kaminski, L.A., (2015) Natural history and systematic position of ''Rhetus belphegor'' , Introduction Riodinini Butterflies described in 1777 Taxa named by Pieter Cramer {{Riodinidae-stub