Mestra (butterfly)

Mestra
Female M. d. dorcas, Jamaica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Subfamily:	Biblidinae
Tribe:	Biblidini
Genus:	Mestra Hübner, [1825]
Species:	M. dorcas
Binomial name
Mestra dorcas (Fabricius, 1775)
Synonyms
Genus: Cystineura Boisduval, [1836] Species: Papilio dorcas Fabricius, 1775 Mestra bogotana C. & R. Felder, 1867 Mestra amymone Papilio mardania Cramer, 1779 Papilio hersilia Fabricius, 1777 Cystineura cana Erichson, [1849] Cystineura bogotana C. & R. Felder, 1867 Cystineura floridana Strecker, 1900 Cystineura cowiana Butler, 1902 Mestra hypermestra Hübner, [1825] Cystineura tocantina Bates, 1865 Cystineura amymone Ménétriés, 1857 Cystineura aurantia Weeks, 1902 Cystineura apicalis burchelli Moulton, 1908 Cysteneura hypermnestra sordida Hayward, 1931 Cystineura latimargo Hall, 1929

Mestra is a genus of nymphalid butterfly. It contains the Jamaican Mestra (Mestra dorcas), which is found from southern North America to South America and the St Lucia Mestra, (Mestra cana) found in the Lesser Antilles.^[1]

The wingspan is 35–50 mm. The upperside is gray-white to light brown. There is a median row of white spots and an orange marginal band on the hindwings. The underside is pale orange with white markings. Adults are on wing year round in southern Texas, but it is most numerous from June to November. They have been recorded feeding on the nectar of Lantana flowers.^[2]

The larvae feed on Tragia neptifolia.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.^[1]

• M. d. amymone (Ménétriés, 1857) (Louisiana to southern Texas and in Nicaragua, Costa Rica) – Amymone
• M. d. apicalis (Staudinger, 1886) (Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil: São Paulo, Goiás, Pará)
• M. d. dorcas Hübner, [1825] (Jamaica)
• M. d. hersilia (Fabricius, 1777) (Guyana, Colombia, St. Lucia, Trinidad)
• M. d. hypermestra Hübner, [1825] (Brazil: Pará, Paraguay)
• M. d. latimargo (Hall, 1929) (Ecuador)
• M. d. semifulva (C. & R. Felder, 1867) (Colombia)

References