Morpho helenor

Morpho helenor, the Helenor blue morpho or common blue morpho, is a Neotropical butterfly found throughout Central and South America from Mexico to Argentina. It is a species group that may or may not be several species. Many subspecies have been described.

Helenor blue morpho
Morpho helenor pindarus dorsal view
Morpho helenor helenor ventral view
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Morpho
Species:	M. helenor
Binomial name
Morpho helenor (Cramer, 1776)
Subspecies
Many (see section below)

Biology

The larvae of subspecies Morpho helenor achillaena have been recorded as feeding on Genipa americana, Inga, Machaerium, Platymiscium, Wisteria, Trifolium, Arachis and Robinia.

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 also described 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

Gallery

• 
  Plate from Adalbert Seitz. Top left are Morpho helenor limpidus Butler, 1872, from Costa Rica and Morpho helenor hyacinthus Butler, 1866, from Honduras.
• 
  Morpho helenor achilleana
• 
  Morpho helenor hector
• 
  Morpho helenor marinita
• 
  Morpho helenor octavia
• 
  Morpho helenor papirius
• 
  Morpho helenor pindarus
• 
  Morpho helenor peleides
  Panama
• 
  Morpho helenor peleides
  Panama

Morpho helenor helenor

• 
  Morpho helenor helenor, male, dorsal - MHNT
• 
  Morpho helenor helenor male, ventral - MHNT
• 
  Morpho helenor helenor, female, dorsal - MHNT
• 
  Morpho helenor helenor, female, ventral - MHNT
• 
  Morpho helenor helenor

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 Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
• Butterflies of America Images of type and other specimens.
• Taxonomy Browser Upperside and underside photographs.