Morpho helenor

Helenor Morpho
File:Morphohelenorpindarus.JPG
M. h. pindarus dorsal
File:Common blue morpho (Morpho helenor helenor).jpg
M. h. helenor ventral Cristalino River Southern Amazon, Brazil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Tribe:	Morphini
Genus:	Morpho
Species:	M. helenor
Binomial name
Morpho helenor (Cramer, 1776)
Subspecies
many, see text

The Helenor Morpho or Common Blue Morpho (Morpho helenor) is a Neotropical butterfly found in Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Surinam, French Guiana, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and in Trinidad and Tobago. It is a species group that may or may not be several species. Many subspecies have been described.

Biology

The larvae are recorded as feeding on Genipa americana, Inga, Machaerium oblongifolium and Platymiscium (all records for ssp. achillaena (Hübner, [1823])

Morpho helenor helenor

• Morpho helenor helenor MHNT dos.jpg

  Morpho helenor helenor, male, dorsal - MHNT

• Morpho helenor helenor MHNT ventre.jpg

  Morpho helenor helenor male, ventral - MHNT

• Morpho helenor helenor MHNT femelle dos.jpg

  Morpho helenor helenor, female, dorsal - MHNT

• Morpho helenor helenor MHNT femelle ventre.jpg

  Morpho helenor helenor, female, ventral - MHNT

• Common blue morpho (Morpho helenor helenor) head.JPG

  M. h. helenor

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.

• M. h. achillaena (Hübner, [1823])
• M. h. achillides C. & R. Felder, 1867
• M. h. anakreon Fruhstorfer, 1910
• M. h. charapensis Le Moult & Réal, 1962
• M. h. coelestis Butler, 1866
• M. h. cortone Fruhstorfer, 1913
• M. h. corydon Guenée, 1859
• M. h. guerrerensis Le Moult & Réal, 1962
• M. h. helenor (Cramer, 1776)
• M. h. insularis Fruhstorfer, 1912
• M. h. leontius C. & R. Felder, 1867
• M. h. macrophthalmus Fruhstorfer, 1913
• M. h. maculata Röber, 1903
• M. h. marajoensis Le Moult & Réal, 1962
• M. h. marinita Butler, 1872
• M. h. montezuma Guenée, 1859
• M. h. narcissus Staudinger, 1887
• M. h. octavia Bates, 1864
• M. h. papirius Hopffer, 1874
• M. h. peleides Kollar, 1850 now in Morpho peleides
• M. h. peleus Röber, 1903
• M. h. pindarus Fruhstorfer, 1910
• M. h. popilius Hopffer, 1874
• M. h. rugitaeniatus Fruhstorfer, 1907
• M. h. telamon Röber, 1903
• M. h. theodorus Fruhstorfer, 1907
• M. h. tucupita Le Moult, 1925
• M. h. ululina Le Moult & Réal, 1962
• M. h. violaceus Fruhstorfer, 1912
• M. h. zonaras Fruhstorfer, 1912

• Seitz2.jpg

  Plate from Seitz. Top left are Morpho helenor limpidus Butler, 1872, from Costa Rica and Morpho helenor hyacinthus Butler, 1866, from Honduras.

• Morphohelenorachilleana.JPG

  Morpho helenor achilleana

• Morphohelenorhector.JPG

  Morpho helenor hector

• Morpho helenor marinita 1.jpg

  Morpho helenor marinita

• Morpho helenor octavia - BCA.png

  Morpho helenor octavia

• Morphohelenor papirius.JPG

  Morpho helenor papirius

• Morphohelenorpindarus.JPG

  Morpho helenor pindarus

References

• Le Moult (E.) & Réal (P.) (1962-1963). Les Morpho d'Amérique du Sud et Centrale, Editions du cabinet entomologique E. Le Moult, Paris.
• Smart, Paul (1976). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World in Color. London, Salamander: Encyclopedie des papillons. Lausanne, Elsevier Sequoia (French language edition). ISBN 9780948427046 ISBN 0600313816 page 237 fig. 6 as hyacinthus (Mexico), fig. 8 as montezuma Guen, underside (Honduras), page 237 fig. 10 as achillaena f. violacea Fruhstorfer, underside (Brazil), fig. 11 as achillaena f. violacea Fruhstorfer, upperside (Brazil)

External links

• Morpho helenor, funet.fi
• Butterflies of America Images of type and other specimens.
• Taxonomy Browser Upperside and underside photographs.