''Doxocopa laure'', the silver emperor, is a species of

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

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 ...

Description

''Doxocopa laure'' has a

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 o ...

reaching about . The upperside of the wing is dark brown with a slight bluey iridescence, with a white central band on the hindwing, and an orange forewing on males. For females, the upperside is dark brown with no iridescence, with a white median band on both wings, ending with a yellow spot at the hindwing leading edge. On both sexes, the underside of the hindwing is greyish with a silver iridescence.

Distribution

This species occurs year-round in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

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 ...

, and during July–December in southern North America areas, such as

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Subspecies

* ''Doxocopa laure laure'' (Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala) * ''Doxocopa laure laura'' (Hübner,

823 __NOTOC__ Year 823 ( DCCCXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Michael II defeats the rebel forces under Thomas the Sla ...

(Jamaica) * ''Doxocopa laure druryi'' (Hübner,

825 __NOTOC__ Year 825 ( DCCCXXV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place India * A group of Persio-Assyrian adherents of the Church of the East, under the leade ...

(Cuba) * ''Doxocopa laure griseldis'' (C. & R. Felder, 1862) (Upper Amazon, Peru) * ''Doxocopa laure laurona'' (Schaus, 1902) (Brazil: Rio de Janeiro) * ''Doxocopa laure mima'' (Fruhstorfer, 1907) (Colombia, Trinidad)

References

* Apaturinae Butterflies of North America Butterflies of Central America Butterflies of the Caribbean Nymphalidae of South America Butterflies of Cuba Butterflies of Jamaica Lepidoptera of Brazil Lepidoptera of Venezuela Butterflies described in 1773 Taxa named by Dru Drury {{Apaturinae-stub