''Mestra'' is a genus of

nymphalid 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 redu ...

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 comprises ...

. It contains the single species ''Mestra dorcas'', the Jamaican mestra, which is found from southern North America to South America and possibly ''Mestra cana'', the St Lucia mestra, found in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...

(though this may be a misidentification).''Mestra''
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' 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 ...

is 35–50 mm. The upperside is gray white to light brown. There is a median row of white spots and an orange marginal band on the hindwings. The underside is pale orange with white markings. Adults are on wing year round in southern Texas, but it is most numerous from June to November. They have been recorded feeding on the nectar of ''

Lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially ...

'' flowers.
Butterflies and Moths of North America The larvae feed on ''

Tragia neptifolia ''Tragia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is widespread across North and South America, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Subcontinent, northern Australia, and to various islands in the Caribbean ...

'' (which may be a misspelling of ''

Tragia nepetifolia ''Tragia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is widespread across North and South America, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Subcontinent, northern Australia, and to various islands in the Caribbean ...

'').

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically: *''M. d. amymone'' (Ménétriés, 1857) (Louisiana to southern Texas and in Nicaragua, Costa Rica) – Amymone *''M. d. apicalis'' (Staudinger, 1886) (Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil: São Paulo, Goiás, Pará) *''M. d. dorcas'' Hübner, 825/small> (Jamaica) *''M. d. hersilia'' (Fabricius, 1777) (Guyana, Colombia, St. Lucia, Trinidad) *''M. d. hypermestra'' Hübner, 825/small> (Brazil: Pará, Paraguay) *''M. d. latimargo'' (Hall, 1929) (Ecuador) *''M. d. semifulva'' (C. & R. Felder, 1867) (Colombia)

References

Butterflies described in 1775 Biblidinae Fauna of Brazil Nymphalidae of South America Butterflies of Jamaica Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius {{Biblidinae-stub