Eueides lybia
Margarita Beltrán
Introduction
Etymology: In Greek mythology, Lybia, like Ethiopia or Scythia, was one of the mythic outlands that encircled the familiar Greek world of the Hellenes and their "foreign" neighbors. Lybia was also personified as an individual, she was the daughter of Epaphus, King of Egypt, who had three sons by the Libyan Sea-God Poseidon: Belus, Agenor and Lelex (Libya).
Characteristics
Early stages: Eggs are cream colored and approximately 1 x 0.7 mm (h x w). Females usually place eggs singly under older leaves of the host plant. Mature larvae have a brown body with yellow stripes, with black scoli and orange head; length is around 3 cm. Caterpillars are gregarious in small groups (Brown, 1981). Pupae are greenish white with black markings on the wingpads and short spines on the dorsum that are tipped black (DeVries, 1997).
Geographical distribution
Eueides lybia is widely distributed from Central America to the Amazon. The map below shows an approximate representation of the geographic distribution of this species. The original data used to draw these maps are derived from Brown (1979) which is available at Keith S. Brown Jr. (1979). Ecological Geography and Evolution in Neotropical Forests.
Distribution of Eueides lybia. © 2002 Margarita Beltran
Habits
E. lybia occurs from sea level to 1,200 m in tall forests and gaps. Females mate multiply. Adults roost in loose groups at night at 2-10 m above ground, under leaves (Brown, 1981).
Hostplant: E. lybia larvae feed primarily on plants from the subgenera Distephana and Granadilla (Passifloraceae)(Brown, 1981). In Costa Rica E. i. lybioides larvae feed on Passiflora vitifolia (Passifloraceae) (DeVries, 1997).
References
Brown K. S. 1979. Ecologia Geográfica e Evolução nas Florestas Neotropicais. 2 vols. (Tese apresentada à Universidade Estadual de Campinas como parte das exigências de um Concurso de Livre Docência, area de Ecologia). Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil. Brown K. S. 1981 The Biology of Heliconius and Related Genera. Annual Review of Entomology 26, 427-456.
DeVries P. J. 1997 The Butterflies of Costa Rica and Their Natural History, Volume I: Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae Princeton University Press, Baskerville, USA.
Libya. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya_(mythology)[Accessed Aug 16, 2008].
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Eueides lybia lybia |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Dead Specimen |
| View | dorsal |
| Collection | Gerardo Lamas |
| Image Use |
 This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
|
| Copyright |
©
|
| Scientific Name | Eueides lybia lybia |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Dead Specimen |
| View | ventral |
| Collection | Gerardo Lamas |
| Image Use |
This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
|
| Copyright |
©
|
About This Page
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Margarita Beltrán at
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Eueides lybia .
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- First online 18 February 2007
- Content changed 04 September 2008
Citing this page:
Beltrán, Margarita. 2008. Eueides lybia . Version 04 September 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Eueides_lybia/72969/2008.09.04 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
