Leptotes cassius
| Leptotes cassius | |
|---|---|
| File:Cassius blue (Leptotes cassius theonus) male.JPG | |
| Male L. c. theonus, Jamaica | |
| File:Cassius blue (Leptotes cassius theonus) underside.JPG | |
| L. c. theonus, Cuba | |
| Scientific classification Edit this classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Leptotes |
| Species: | L. cassius
|
| Binomial name | |
| Leptotes cassius (Cramer, 1775)
| |
| Synonyms | |
_male.JPG){kind=link}
_underside.JPG){kind=link}
Leptotes cassius, the Cassius blue or tropical striped blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America in Florida including the Keys, Texas south through the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America to South America. Strays have been found in New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.[2] The wingspan is 20–35 mm. The butterfly species has an important role in Marisha Pessl's 2006 novel Special Topics in Calamity Physics. The protagonist, Blue van Meer, is named in honor of the Cassius blue. The caterpillars feed natively on Fabaceae. Food plants on record are Amorpha crenulata, woolly rattlepod (Crotalaria incana), Galactia regularis and lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus). It can also successfully develop feeding on Cape leadwort (Plumbago auriculata) or doctorbush (P. scandens), which (among the eudicots) are not closely related to its usual food plants.[3]
Subspecies
- L. c. cassius – Suriname , Trinidad & Tobago
- L. c. catilina
- L. c. theonus (Lucas, 1857) – Florida, Cuba, Bahamas, Greater Antilles
- L. c. cassidula (Boisduval, 1870)[4] – Texas, Mexico, Honduras to Panama
- L. c. cassioides – Windward Islands, including Dominica
- L. c. striata
L. c. theonus (and consequently L. cassius itself) is the type species of the genus Leptotes.
References
- ↑ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0 - Leptotes cassius Cassius Blue". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ↑ "North Carolina Butterfly Website". www.dpr.ncparks.gov. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
- ↑ Hall, Donald W.; Jerry F. Butler. "Cassius blue, tropical striped blue Leptotes cassius (Cramer) (Instecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae)". Electronic Digital Information Source. University of Florida IFAS Extension. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
- ↑ "Leptotes cassius". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
External links
- NatureServe secure species
- Articles with 'species' microformats
- Commons link is the pagename
- Taxonbars desynced from Wikidata
- Taxonbar pages requiring a Wikidata item
- Leptotes (butterfly)
- Butterflies of Central America
- Butterflies of the Caribbean
- Butterflies of North America
- Lycaenidae of South America
- Butterflies of Jamaica
- Butterflies described in 1775
- Taxa named by Pieter Cramer
- All stub articles
- Polyommatini stubs