Cercyonis sthenele
Species of butterfly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cercyonis sthenele, the Great Basin wood-nymph, is a North American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.
| Great Basin wood-nymph | |
|---|---|
| |
| Cercyonis sthenele paulus, male | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Cercyonis |
| Species: | C. sthenele |
| Binomial name | |
| Cercyonis sthenele (Boisduval, 1852) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Description
It is dark brown with two eyespots on the forewing with the upper larger than the lower.[3]
The wingspan measures 39–44 mm (1.5–1.7 in). Its flight period is from late June to late August.[4] It is found in arid woodland, especially pinyon-juniper, chaparral and brushland habitats.[1]
Similar species
- Common wood-nymph (Cercyonis pegala) – larger, eyespots similar in size
- Small wood-nymph (Cercyonis oetus) – lacks lower eyespot in males, lower eyespot is closer to margin than upper eyespot in females[4]
Subspecies
The following subspecies are recognised:[5]
- †C. s. behrii (F. Grinnell, 1905)
- C. s. hypoleuca Hawks and J. Emmel, 1998
- C. s. masoni Cross, 1937
- C. s. paulus (Edwards, 1879)
- C. s. silvestris Edwards, 1861
- C. s. sineocellata Austin and J. Emmel in T. Emmel, 1998
- †C. s. sthenele (Boisduval, 1852) - nominate subspecies endemic to San Francisco Peninsula, now extinct[6][7]
Distribution
C. sthenele ranges over much of the western United States and reaches to southern British Columbia, Canada.[4]
