Archaeoprepona demophon

Archaeoprepona demophon, the one-spotted prepona, banded king shoemaker, or demophon shoemaker is a butterfly belonging to the family Nymphalidae.

Archaeoprepona demophon
Dorsal
Ventral, Cristalino River Southern Amazon, Brazil
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Archaeoprepona
Species:	A. demophon
Binomial name
Archaeoprepona demophon (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Papilio demophon Linnaeus, 1758 Prepona demophon Papilio luctuosus Walch, 1775 Papilio sysiphus Cramer, [1777] Morpho sysiphe Hübner, [1819] Prepona catachlora Staudinger, 1886

Description

The wingspan reaches about 54–58 millimetres (2.1–2.3 in). The uppersides of the wings are black, with bright pale blue transverse bands. The undersides are pale brown with a clearer band in the middle of the hindwings and several dark small dots on the margins.

Foodplants

The butterfly larva generally feed on plants of the genus Annona (Annonaceae) and on Malpighia glabra (Malpighiaceae). Adults visit rotten fruit or dung.

Distribution

This species can be found in Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and northern portions of South America.

Habitat

Archaeoprepona demophon prefers the edges of forest canopy and subcanopy.

Gallery

• 
  Archaeoprepona demophon demophon – dorsal view
• 
  Archaeoprepona demophon demophon - ventral view
• 
  Archaeoprepona demophon muson male - dorsal view
• 
  Archaeoprepona demophon muson male - ventral view

Subspecies

• Archaeoprepona demophon demophon (Surinam)
• Archaeoprepona demophon thalpius (Hübner, [1814]) (Brazil (Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Rio Grande do Sul))
• Archaeoprepona demophon extincta (Staudinger, 1886)
• Archaeoprepona demophon centralis (Fruhstorfer, [1905]) (Mexico to Panama, Honduras)
• Archaeoprepona demophon muson (Fruhstorfer, 1905) (Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia)
• Archaeoprepona demophon occidentalis (Stoffel & Descimon, 1974) (Mexico)

References

• DeVries, Philip J. (1987). The Butterflies of Costa Rica and Their Natural History, Volume I: Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 327 pp.
• Lewis, H. L. (1974). Butterflies of the World. ISBN 0-245-52097-X
• Especies de Costa Rica
• Llorente-Bousquets, J., Descimon, H., and K. Johnson. (1993). Taxonomy and biogeography of Archaeoprepona demophoon in Mexico, with description of a new subspecies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Charaxinae). Tropical Lepidoptera 4(1): 31-36. pdf

External links

• Archaeoprepona demophon (The Nymphalidae Systematics Group website)
• One-spotted Prepona (Archaeoprepona demophon), Neotropical Butterflies
• Archaeoprepona demophon occidentalis (Stoffel & Descimon, 1974) (One-spotted Prepona) Archived 2015-09-25 at the Wayback Machine, Butterflies of America