''Urania'' 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 colorful, dayflying

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s 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 ...

Uraniidae The Uraniidae are a family (biology), family of moths containing four subfamily (biology), subfamilies, 90 genera, and roughly 700 species. The family is distributed throughout the tropics of the Americas, Africa and Indo-Australia.Carter, David ...

, native to warmer parts of the Americas. Their larvae feed on '' Omphalea''. The genus name ''Urania'' is

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Urania Urania ( ; ; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy and astrology. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, her attributes being the globe and compass. T ...

'' from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

Ουρανία, one of the

Muses In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

, literally 'The Heavenly One'.Lees, David and Neal Smith (1991
Foodplants of the Uraniinae (Uraniinae) and their Systematic, Evolutionary and Ecological Significance
o

. In ''Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society'', vol. 45. Retrieved October 29, 2006.The

Century Dictionary ''The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia'' is one of the largest encyclopedic dictionaries of the English language. It was compared favorably with the ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' and frequently consulted for more factual information than woul ...

by The Century Compan
Available online

Distribution

The genus includes relatively large day-flying moths that are found in Mexico (rarely reaching north to Texas as a vagrant), Central America, warmer parts of South America and the Caribbean islands.

Species

:* '' Urania boisduvalii'' Guérin-Meneville, 1829 – (

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

) :* '' Urania brasiliensis'' Swainson, 1833 – (eastern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

) :* ''

Urania leilus ''Urania leilus'', the green-banded urania, is a day-flying moth of the family Uraniidae. The species was Species description, first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It i ...

'' Linnaeus, 1758 – green-banded urania (tropical South America east of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

) :* '' Urania fulgens'' Walker, 1854 – urania swallowtail moth (

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, through Central America to northwestern South America) :* '' Urania poeyi'' Herrich-Schäffer, 1866 – (eastern

) :* '' Urania sloanus'' Cramer, 1779 – Sloane's urania (Jamaica;

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

1894)

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3552124 Uraniidae Moth genera