''Enantia melite'' is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
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 ...
that is found from
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. ...
to the
Amazon Basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...
.
It has a wingspan of , and is very variable.
It lives in
cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...
and transitional forest, at altitudes of .
Subspecies
*''E. m. melite'' (Surinam)
*''E. m. theugenis''
(Doubleday, 1848) (Bolivia, Peru)
*''E. m. linealis''
(Prüffer, 1922) (Peru)
*''E. m. vilma''
Lamas, 2004 (Brazil: Rondônia)
Gallery
Image:Enantia melite male.JPG, ''E. m. melite'' male
Image:Enantia melite female.JPG, ''E. m. melite'' female
Image:Enantia melite theugenis.JPG, ''E. m. theugenis''
References
External links
Dismorphiinae
Pieridae of South America
Butterflies described in 1763
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Butterflies of Central America
{{Pieridae-stub