''Anartia amathea'', the brown peacock (scarlet peacock, red peacock), is a species 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 red ...

butterfly, found primarily in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. This butterfly is very similar to the banded peacock or

Anartia fatima ''Anartia fatima'', the banded peacock, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is commonly found in south Texas, Mexico, and Central America but most studied in Costa Rica. This butterfly prefers subtropical climates and moist areas, such ...

, which primarily exists north of the range of Anartia amathea. The type locality is probably Suriname, and the species is found from Panama to Argentina; Grenada, Barbados and Antigua. It consumes nectar. It is reported as common in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, the Brazilian highlands, the eastern Amazon, the Guianas, Venezuela, and Panama, as well as Trinidad and other Caribbean islands. North American records are either in error or refer to strays. Larval host plants are mostly undetermined, but these include the families

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in te ...

and

Labiatae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

. File:Anartia amathea MHNT dos.jpg, ''Anartia amathea'', dorsal view ( MHNT) File:Anartia amathea MHNT ventre.jpg, ''Anartia amathea'', ventral view (MHNT) File:Scarlet peacock (Anartia amathea) male underside Tr.JPG, Male, underside,

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

File:Scarlet_peacock_(Anartia_amathea)_female_underside.JPG, Female, underside, Trinidad

References

External links

Uniprot Taxonomy
* amathea Nymphalidae of South America Butterflies described in 1758 Butterflies of Trinidad and Tobago Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Nymphalinae-stub