''Myscelia ethusa'', the Mexican bluewing or blue wing, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

. The species was first described by

Louis Michel François Doyère Louis Michel François Doyère (born 28 January 1811 in Saint-Michel-des-Essartiers, Calvados; died 1863 in Corsica) was a French zoologist and agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a ...

in 1840. It is found from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

north through

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Strays can be found up to the lower

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the United States. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is . Many generations occur per year. The

larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

feed on the ''

Dalechampia ''Dalechampia'' is a genus of plant of the family Euphorbiaceae and of the monogeneric subtribe Dalechampiinae. It is widespread across lowland tropical areas (generally below 2,000 m ASL) primarily in the Americas with smaller numbers of species ...

'' species. Adults feed on rotting fruit.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically: * ''M. e. chiapensis '' Jenkins, 1984 (Mexico) * ''M. e. cyanecula'' C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867 (Mexico) * ''M. e. ethusa'' (Mexico) * ''M. e. pattenia '' Butler & H. Druce, 1872 (Guatemala and Costa Rica) Mexican bluewing (Myscelia ethusa) egg just laid.jpg, Egg Mexican bluewing (Myscelia ethusa) caterpillar.jpg, Caterpillar

References

External links

* * Biblidinae Butterflies described in 1840 Butterflies of North America Nymphalidae of South America {{Biblidinae-stub