''Napeocles jucunda'', the great blue hookwing, is a South American

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 ...

of the family

Nymphalidae 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 ha ...

. The species was first described by

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 '' ...

in 1808.

Taxonomy

It is the only representative of the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

Neotropical lowland genus ''Napeocles'', erected by

Henry Walter Bates Henry Walter Bates (8 February 1825 – 16 February 1892) was an English natural history, naturalist and explorer who gave the first scientific account of mimicry in animals. He was most famous for his expedition to the Tropical rainforest ...

in 1864. It has been assigned to the recently resurrected tribe

Victorinini Victorinini is a tribe (biology), tribe of Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies. The four butterfly genera contained in this tribe are ''Anartia'', ''Metamorpha'', ''Napeocles'', and ''Siproeta''. Those genera were previously included in the ...

. The species is very similar to some species in tribe

Kallimini Kallimini is a tribe of brush-footed butterflies. List of genera * '' Catacroptera'' Karsch, 1894 – pirates * '' Doleschallia'' C. & R. Felder, 1860 * ''Hypolimnas ''Hypolimnas'' is a genus of tropical brush-footed butterflies commonly ...

Subspecies

Subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

include: *''Napeocles jucunda jucunda'' Hübner, 1808 *''Napeocles jucunda caesari'' Neild, 2008 (

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

) *''Napeocles jucunda dumnorix'' Fruhstorfer, 1912

Distribution

This species has been recorded in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

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 ...

, and

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

Habitat

These butterflies occur in tropical rainforest across the Amazon basin and from the eastern slopes of the Andes. They can usually be found high in the canopy, but sometimes they are also present on the lower foliage of trees and on humid cacao-groves on fallen fruits. The eggs and pupae are very similar to that of ''

Siproeta stelenes ''Siproeta stelenes'' (malachite) is a Neotropical realm, Neotropical brush-footed butterfly (family Nymphalidae). The malachite has large wings that are black and brilliant green or yellow-green on the upperside and light brown and Chartreuse (c ...

'', but the final instar larvae is characterized by a dark maroon basal color, with the thorax and abdomen flecked by numerous yellow specks. The immature stages feed on plants in the genus

Ruellia ''Ruellia'' is a genus of flowering plants commonly known as ruellias or wild petunias. They are not closely related to petunias (''Petunia'') although both genera belong to the same euasterids I, euasterid clade. The genus was named in honor of ...

Description

''Napeocles jucunda'' can reach a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

of about . These fairly large, wide-winged fine butterflies show a very hard projection on the hindmargins of the forewings, just below the tip, with a deep concavity below. The hindwings are round. The basic color is black or dark brown, with a broad blue to intense white band crossing the middle of the forewings and hindwings. The tip of the forewings shows also a small blue spot. The underside of the wings is colored like a wilted leaf, complete with "middle nerve".

Bibliography

*Lamas, G. ed. (2004). ''Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera''. Checklist: Part 4A Hesperioidea - Papiionoidea. Gainesville: Scientific Publishers/Association of Tropical Lepidoptera. *Palo Jr., Haroldo (2017). ''Borboletas do Brasil'' utterflies of Brazil volume 2. Nymphalidae 1st ed. São Carlos, Brazil: Vento Verde. p. 1254. *D'Abrera, Bernard (1984). ''Butterflies of South America''. Hill House

References

External links

"Species ''Napeocles jucunda''"
''Butterflies of America''. * Brower, Andrew V. Z
"''Napeocles'' H. W. Bates 1864"
''Tree of Life Web Project''. * Carter, D. (1994). ''Sommerfugler fra hele verden''. Teknologisk Forlag.
''Napeocles jucunda'' on Flickr
{{Taxonbar , from1=Q13846204 , from2=Q11703708 Insects described in 1808 Nymphalinae Monotypic butterfly genera Taxa named by Henry Walter Bates