Under Construction
This is an archived version of a Tree of Life page. For up-to-date information, please refer to the current version of this page.

Dismorphia Huebner 1816

Leptalis Dalman 1823 a junior synonym employed by Bates and others in early discussions of mimicry in butterflies

Andrew V. Z. Brower
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

The species list is derived from Lamas (2004).

Containing group: Dismorphiinae

Introduction

The species in this neotropical genus are remarkable Batesian mimics of various nymphalid models, especially ithomiines, and indeed, it was the convergent similarity between them and the ithomiines that led H. W. Bates to fomulate his theory of mimetic resemblance (1862).

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

Plate from Bates (1862) illustrating Batesian mimicry between Dismorphia species (top row, third row) and various Ithomiini (Nymphalidae) (second row, bottom row)

References

Bates HW. 1862. Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon Valley. Lepidoptera: Heliconidae. Trans. Linn. Soc. 23: 495-566.

Lamas G ed. 2004. Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist: Part 4A Hesperioidea - Papiionoidea. Gainesville: Scientific Publishers/Association of Tropical Lepidoptera.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Dismorphia theucharila
Location Selva Negra, Nicaragua
Acknowledgements source: Neotropical Butterflies: Clearwing Mimic-White
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright © 2003 Kim Garwood
About This Page


Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Andrew V. Z. Brower at

Citing this page:

Brower, Andrew V. Z. 2006. Dismorphia Huebner 1816. Leptalis Dalman 1823 a junior synonym employed by Bates and others in early discussions of mimicry in butterflies. Version 08 November 2006 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Dismorphia/76374/2006.11.08 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Dismorphia

Page Content

articles & notes

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top