Cyrestinae is the name of a small
subfamily of nymphalid
brush-footed butterflies. It is considered to include only three genera – ''Marpesia'', ''Chersonesia'', and ''Cyrestis'' – distributed in the tropics.
[N. Wahlberg , J. Leneveu , U. Kodandaramaiah , C. Peña , S. Nylin , A. V. L. Freitas , and A. V. Z. Brower (2009). Nymphalid butterflies diversify following near demise at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences'' 276: 4295–4302.]
Systematics
The circumscription of the Cyrestinae has seen some changes in the recent years, when the former tribes Cyrestini and
Pseudergolini were suggested to form a monophyletic clade, and the name was given to the proposed new subfamily,
[Niklas Wahlberg , Elisabet Weingartner , and Sören Nylin (2003). ''Towards a better understanding of the higher systematics of Nymphalidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea)'' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28: 473–484.] but the tribes were split again later—as two independent subfamilies—as their positions within the Nymphalidae were defined more clearly.
It is now considered to be the sister group to the larger subfamily
Nymphalinae, and only three genera are included:
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Cyrestis''
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Chersonesia''
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Marpesia
In ancient Greek and Roman legendary history, Marpesia (Greek: Μαρπησία "Snatcher"; sometimes wrongly spelled Marthesia) was Queen of the Amazons with Lampedo ("burning torch"), her sister, as a co-ruler. They ruled with Hippo ("horse") ...
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''Marpesia'' is Neotropical and ''Cyrestis'' and ''Chersonesia'' are mainly Oriental with a few species in the Afrotropics.
[Wahlberg, Niklas and Andrew V. Z. Brower. (2012). ''Cyrestinae'' Guenée 1865. Version 6 August 2012 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Cyrestinae/69949/2012.08.06 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/]
References
External links
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Taxa named by Achille Guenée
Butterfly subfamilies
{{Nymphalidae-stub