Mestra dorcas explained
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).[1]
The wingspan is 35–50 mm. 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.[2]
The larvae feed on Tragia neptifolia (which may be a misspelling of Tragia nepetifolia).
Subspecies
Listed alphabetically:[1]
- 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)
Notes and References
- http://www.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/nymphalidae/biblidinae/mestra/index.html Mestra
- http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Mestra-amymone
