''Pierella'' is a

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 ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

from the subfamily Satyrinae in 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 ...

found from Mexico through Central America to South America. The species of ''Pierella'' have larger hindwings than forewings, unique among butterflies. The oval green flash on the forewing is also unique. It is caused by diffraction, the wing scales forming a

diffraction grating In optics, a diffraction grating is an optical component with a periodic structure that diffracts light into several beams travelling in different directions (i.e., different diffraction angles). The emerging coloration is a form of structur ...

. Their caterpillars have been found on the host plants ''

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 ''

Calathea ''Calathea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Marantaceae. They are commonly called calatheas or (like their relatives) prayer plants. About 200 species formerly assigned to ''Calathea'' are now in the genus ''Goeppertia''. C ...

''.

Species and subspecies

* '' Pierella amalia'' Weymer, 1885 (= ''P. lena'' ab. ''leucospila'') * '' Pierella astyoche'' (Erichson, 849 – Astyoche satyr ** ''Pierella astyoche astyoche'' (= ''Haetera larymna'', ''Hetaera'' 'sic''.html" ;"title="sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''''astyoche'') ** ''Pierella astyoche bernhardina'' Bryk, 1953 (= ''P. astyoche'' f. ''obscura'' (''nomen nudum'')) ** ''Pierella astyoche stollei'' Ribeiro, 1931 * ''Pierella helvina'' (Hewitson, 1859) ** ''Pierella helvina helvina'' (= ''Haetera helvina'') – red-washed satyr ** ''Pierella helvina hymettia'' Staudinger,

886 __NOTOC__ Year 886 ( DCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March – A wide-ranging conspiracy against Emperor Basil I, led by John Kourkouas, is uncovered. * ...

/small> (= ''P. incanescens werneri'') ** ''Pierella helvina incanescens'' Godman & Salvin, 1877 (= ''P. incanescens costaricana'') ** ''Pierella helvina ocreata'' Salvin & Godman, 1868 (= ''P. ocreata'' (''nomen nudum'')) ** ''Pierella helvina pacifica'' Niepelt, 1924 (= ''Pierello'' ''ocreata johnsoni'') * '' Pierella hortona'' (Hewitson, 1854) – white-barred lady slipper ** ''Pierella hortona hortona'' (= ''Haetera hortensia'', ''Haetera hortona'', ''P. hortona'' f. ''albopunctata'', ''P. hortona'' f. ''ocellata'') ** ''Pierella hortona albofasciata'' Rosenberg & Talbot, 1914 (= ''P. albofaciata'' ''decepta'') * '' Pierella hyalinus'' (Gmelin,

790 __NOTOC__ Year 790 ( DCCXC) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 790 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

– glassy pierella ** ''Pierella hyalinus hyalinus'' (= ''Papilio hyalinus'', ''Pierella hyalinus fusimaculata'', ''Pieris dracontis'') ** ''Pierella hyalinus extincta'' Weymer, 1910 ** ''Pierella hyalinus schmidti'' Constantino, 1995 ** ''Pierella hyalinus velezi'' Constantino, 1995 * '' Pierella hyceta'' (Hewitson, 1859) – golden lady slipper ** ''Pierella hyceta hyceta'' (= ''Haetera hyceta'') ** ''Pierella hyceta ceryce'' (Hewitson, 1874) (= ''Haetera ceryce'') ** ''Pierella hyceta latona'' (C.Felder & R.Felder, 1867) (= ''Haetera latona'') *'' Pierella incanescens'' (Godman & Salvin, 1877) * '' Pierella lamia'' (Sulzer, 1776) – Sulzer's lady slipper ** ''Pierella lamia lamia'' (= ''Papilio dyndimene'', ''Papilio lamia'', ''Papilio rhea'', ''Pierella lamia'' f. ''fabriciana'' , ''Pierella luna'' ab. ''albina'') ** ''Pierella lamia boliviana'' F.M.Brown, 1948 ** ''Pierella lamia chalybaea'' Godman, 1905 (= ''Haetera lamia'' f. ''columbina'') * '' Pierella lena'' (Linnaeus, 1767) – Lena pierella ** ''Pierella lena lena'' (= ''Papilio lena'', ''Papilio sectator'') ** ''Pierella lena brasiliensis'' (C.Felder & R.Felder, 1862) (= ''Haetera brasiliensis'', ''P. lena browni'', ''P. lena glaucolena'', ''P. lena'' f. ''melanosa'' (''nomen nudum''), ''P. lena'' f. ''obsoleta'') * '' Pierella lucia'' Weymer, 1885 (= ''P. astyoche'' var. ''albomaculata'') – Lucia pierella * '' Pierella luna'' (Fabricius, 1793) – Moon Satyr ** ''Pierella luna luna'' (= ''Papilio luna'', ''Pierella luna'' f. ''rubra'') ** ''Pierella luna lesbia'' Staudinger, 1887 ** ''Pierella luna pallida'' (Salvin & Godman, 1868) (= ''Hetaera'' ''pallida'') ** ''Pierella luna rubecula'' Salvin & Godman, 1868 (= ''Haetera heracles'') * '' Pierella nereis'' (Drury, 1782) (= ''Papilio nereis'')

References

Nymphalidae Study Group species list
*Urich, F. C., and T. C. Emmel. 1990. Life histories of Neotropical butterflies from Trinidad 1. ''Pierella hyalinus fusimaculata'' (Lepidoptera: Satyridae). ''Tropical Lepidoptera'' 1(1): 25-2
pdf

External links

Barcode of life
Images Haeterini Nymphalidae of South America Butterfly genera Taxa named by John O. Westwood {{Satyrinae-stub