Mestra dorcas

Mestra dorcas
Female M. d. dorcas, Jamaica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Mestra Hübner, [1825]
Species:	M. dorcas
Binomial name
Mestra dorcas (Fabricius, 1775)
Synonyms
Genus synonymy Cystineura Boisduval, [1836] Species synonymy Papilio dorcas Fabricius, 1775 C. & R. Felder, 1867 Cramer, 1779 Strecker, 1900 Hall, 1929 Cystineura cowiana Papilio hersilia Butler, 1902 Cystineura latimargo Mestra amymone Fabricius, 1777 Hübner, [1825] Hayward, 1931 Cystineura tocantina Cystineura cana Bates, 1865 Mestra bogotana Erichson, [1849] Ménétriés, 1857 Mestra hypermestra Cystineura aurantia Cystineura bogotana Weeks, 1902 Cystineura apicalis burchelli Papilio mardania C. & R. Felder, 1867 Moulton, 1908 Cystineura amymone Cysteneura hypermnestra sordida Cystineura floridana

Mestra is a genus of nymphalid butterfly. It contains the single species Mestra dorcas, the Jamaican mestra, which is found from southern North America to South America and possibly Mestra cana, the St Lucia mestra, found in the Lesser Antilles (though this may be a misidentification).

The wingspan is 35–50 mm. The upperside is gray white to light brown. There is a median row of white spots and an orange marginal band on the hindwings. The underside is pale orange with white markings. Adults are on wing year round in southern Texas, but it is most numerous from June to November. They have been recorded feeding on the nectar of Lantana flowers.

The larvae feed on Tragia neptifolia (which may be a misspelling of Tragia nepetifolia).

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:

• M. d. amymone (Ménétriés, 1857) (Louisiana to southern Texas and in Nicaragua, Costa Rica) – Amymone
• M. d. apicalis (Staudinger, 1886) (Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil: São Paulo, Goiás, Pará)
• M. d. dorcas Hübner, [1825] (Jamaica)
• M. d. hersilia (Fabricius, 1777) (Guyana, Colombia, St. Lucia, Trinidad)
• M. d. hypermestra Hübner, [1825] (Brazil: Pará, Paraguay)
• M. d. latimargo (Hall, 1929) (Ecuador)
• M. d. semifulva (C. & R. Felder, 1867) (Colombia)