''Caligo oileus'', the

Oileus In Greek mythology, Oileus or Oïleus (; grc, Ὀϊλεύς ''Oī̈leús'') was the king of Locris, and an Argonaut. Family Oileus's father was given as Hodoedocus (whom Oileus succeeded as King of Locris) and his mother as Agrianome (daughter ...

giant owl, 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 can be found from

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 ...

to northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. The larvae feed on ''

Heliconia ''Heliconia'', derived from the Greek word (), is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the we ...

'' and ''

Musa Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon * Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam Province *Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran *Musa, Kerman, Iran * Musa, Bukan, West Azerbaijan ...

'' species.

Subspecies

*''Caligo oileus oileus'' (Venezuela, Colombia) *''Caligo oileus scamander'' (Boisduval, 1870) (Colombia, Ecuador) *''Caligo oileus umbratilis'' Stichel, 1903 (Peru)

References

''Caligo oileus''
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''

Learn about Butterflies

Butterflies of America Butterflies described in 1861 Caligo Nymphalidae of South America Butterflies of Central America Taxa named by Cajetan von Felder Taxa named by Rudolf Felder Lepidoptera of Mexico {{Morphinae-stub