Catonephele acontius

Catonephele acontius, the Acontius firewing, is a nymphalid butterfly species found in South America. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1771 (who gave the type location as "China", a designation followed by some later authors).

Catonephele acontius
Male
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Catonephele
Species:	C. acontius
Binomial name
Catonephele acontius (Linnaeus, 1771)
Synonyms
Papilio acontius Linnaeus, 1771 Papilio antiochus Fabricius, 1775 (nec Linnaeus) Papilio medea Fabricius, 1775 (nec Cramer) Papilio chione Cramer, [1776] Papilio eupalemon Cramer, [1777] Catonephele eupalemaena Hübner, [1819] Catonephele acontius exquisitus Stichel, 1899

Description

(Male, described by Dru Drury): Upperside. Antennae, head, thorax, and abdomen black. Wings fine velvety black. An orange-coloured bar, about 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) broad, rises in the middle of the superior wings, running circularly and crossing the inferior ones, meeting about the middle of the abdominal edges.

Underside. Palpi white. Tongue brown. Breast and legs white. Abdomen yellow brown. Wings shining brown, exhibiting various shades of changeable colours; the tips terminating in an ash colour. Wings scarcely dentated. Wingspan 2+3⁄4 inches (70 mm).

• 
  Male
• 
  Female

Subspecies

• Catonephele acontius acontius (Guianas, Surinam, Brazil: Amazonas)
• Catonephele acontius caeruleus Jenkins, 1985 (Bolivia)