''Morpho cypris'', the Cypris morpho, is a
Neotropical
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In bioge ...
butterfly. It is found in
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
,
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
,
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
,
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 ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
,
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
and
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
. Several
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
and many forms have been described.
Description
''Morpho cypris'' replaces ''
M. rhetenor'' in Colombia and Central America and one might strictly speaking unite it with the latter as a geographical branch unless the anatomy shows essential differences, ''M. cypris'' is here, however, kept separate on account of the rounded shape of the forewing and the somewhat more vertically placed white median band of the upper surface, ''M. cypris'' and ''
M. helena'' outshine even the other Morphids in their incomparable gloss and ''M. cypris'' in particular is a true gem, unequalled in its brilliance throughout the whole of nature (
Schatz). According to the fall of the light the blue of this incomparable insect shows a more violet or more greenish gloss and the delicate white band a yellowish tone or more of a tinge of rose colour. The blue is of such ethereal purity and such intensive lustre that all the other colours appear faded or dull in comparison. Only the Malayo-Australian ''
Ornithoptera
''Ornithoptera'' is a genus of birdwing butterflies found in the northern portion of the Australasian realm, east of Weber's line; the Moluccas, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and northeastern Australia. Except for ''Ornithoptera richmondia'' ...
'' can outrival the Morphids, adding as they do to the brilliance of their golden green colouring the further charm of a quite distinguished form and wing contour. The scaling itself, as in ''M. rhetenor'', remains fixed, but the interference scales are wanting in the normal females so that these are of the primitive yellowish ochreous (
brassolid) ground colour common to all the species of the ''M. adonis'' group.
[Fruhstorfer, H., 1913. Family: Morphidae. In A. Seitz (editor),''Macrolepidoptera of the world'',vol. 5: 333–356. Stuttgart: Alfred Kernen.
]
Etymology
Cypris is another name for Aphrodite, a beautiful Greek goddess.
References
*
Le Moult (E.) &
Réal (P.), 1962-1963. ''Les Morpho d'Amérique du Sud et Centrale'', Editions du cabinet entomologique E. Le Moult, Paris.
*Paul Smart, 1976 ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World in Color''. London, Salamander: ''Encyclopedie des papillons''. Lausanne, Elsevier Sequoia (French language edition) page 232 fig.2 (Colombia).
Further reading
*
DeVries, P.J. & G.E. Martinez (1993) The morphology, natural history, and behavior of the early stages of ''Morpho cypris'' (Nymphalidae: Morphinae) – 140 years after formal recognition of the butterfly, ''Journal of the New York Entomological Society'', 101: 515-530.
External links
"''Morpho'' Fabricius, 1807"at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
Images of
type and other specimens.
FiebigPhotographs, including microphotography of the scales.
cypris
Nymphalidae of South America
{{Morphinae-stub