''Rhetus'' 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 ...

metalmark butterfly

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

. They are small (wingspan 25–30 mm), fast flying, strikingly iridescent, and have long wing tails. They are found in open areas, including tracks of primary

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

. The genus was erected by

William John Swainson William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of ...

in 1829. In older literature, all three species were placed in the genus ''Diorina'' Morisse 1838 currently viewed as a subjective

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

, the older name having priority. ''Rhetus periander'' often features in butterfly wall displays.

Subspecies

There are three species:''Rhetus''
at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera *''

Rhetus arcius ''Rhetus arcius'' is a species of Neotropical butterfly, first described in Carl Linnaeus' 1763 ''Centuria Insectorum The first page of ''Centuria Insectorum'', as included in ''Amoenitates Academicæ'' ' (Latin, "one hundred insects") is a ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1763) – paler than ''R. periander'' and with longer thinner tails *'' Rhetus dysonii'' (Saunders, 1850) – outer margins of the forewings convex, distinct white bands, and white markings on the tail *'' Rhetus periander'' (Cramer,

777 777 may refer to: * 777 (number), a number * AD 777, a year of the Julian calendar * 777 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * Boeing 777, a commercial jet airliner :* Boeing 777X, the newer generation of the Boeing 777. Art and entertainment Alb ...

– commonest and most widespread

References

* Lamas, G. ed. (2004). ''Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist: Part 4A Hesperioidea - Papilionoidea''. Gainesville: Scientific Publishers/Association of Tropical Lepidoptera. Riodinini Riodinidae of South America Butterfly genera Taxa named by William John Swainson {{Riodinidae-stub