Morpho hercules

Hercules morpho
Museum Wiesbaden
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Morpho
Species:	M. hercules
Binomial name
Morpho hercules (Dalman, 1823)

Morpho hercules, the Hercules morpho, is a Neotropical butterfly found in Brazil and Paraguay.

Description

Upper surface grey green. Forewing with two rows of submarginal yellow dots, of which the proximal are considerably broader than the antemarginal. Patch before the apex of the cell narrow, dark green, subobsolete. Cell black green. Discal area glossy dark green. Distal border broad, deep black. Base of the forewing dark, of the hindwing somewhat lighter sea green.

Under surface: forewing bearing two very large rounded ocelli between the medians and two much smaller ones between the upper radial and the upper median. The proximal median spots narrow, irregular. Discal spot black. Cell with two very broad white longitudinal bands, posteriorly confluent. Hindwing predominantly red brown with a silver-white median band about 3 mm in breadth. There are three anal ocelli with black irises.

Biology

The larva feeds on Musaceae and Menispermaceae (Abuta selloana).

Etymology

It is named for the mythological hero Hercules.

References

• Le Moult (E.) & Réal (P.), 1962-1963. Les Morpho d'Amérique du Sud et Centrale, Editions du cabinet entomologique E. Le Moult, Paris.
• Paul Smart, 1976 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World in Color. London, Salamander: Encyclopedie des papillons. Lausanne, Elsevier Sequoia (French language edition)ISBN 9780948427046 ISBN 0600313816 page 231 fig.3 underside (Brazil)

External links

• "Morpho Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms with taxonomy and subspecies
• Butterflies of America Images of type and other specimens.