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Colobura dirce (Linnaeus 1758)

Niklas Wahlberg
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Containing group: Colobura

Introduction

Colobura dirce has two subspecies, the widespread Central and South American C. dirce dirce and the Caribbean C. dirce wolcotti. The biology of the species is quite quite well-known. Eggs are laid in small clusters of 2-10 eggs on saplings of the host plant Cecropia. The larvae go through five instars, and late instar larvae are velvet black with pale yellow scoli (branched spines). Pupation happens on the host plant, and the pupae resemble dead twigs. Adults are common in a variety of forest and secondary growth habitats from sea level to 1600 m.

Characteristics

Colobura dirce is best distinguished from C. annulata from the immature stages. Colobura dirce eggs tend to be darker, larvae lack the yellow rings that encircle the body in C. annulata, larvae are less gregarious and tend to be found on saplings and seedlings of the host plant. Adults tend to be smaller than C. annulata, with the main distinguishing character being the third submarginal line on the underside of the forewing, which always tapers toward the costa (unlike in C. annulata).

References

Willmott, K. R., L. M. Constantino, and J. P. W. Hall. 2001. A review of Colobura (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) with comments on larval and adult ecology and description of a sibling species. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 94:185-196.

Information on the Internet

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Colobura dirce
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Colobura dirce
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2002 Wes Kalinowski
About This Page

Niklas Wahlberg
University of Turku, Finland

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Niklas Wahlberg at

Page: Tree of Life Colobura dirce (Linnaeus 1758). Authored by Niklas Wahlberg. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Wahlberg, Niklas. 2007. Colobura dirce (Linnaeus 1758). Version 21 August 2007 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Colobura_dirce/77173/2007.08.21 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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