Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Butterflies and Skippers (Papilionoidea) » Metalmarks (Riodinidae)

Family Riodinidae - Metalmarks

Fatal Metalmark - Calephelis nemesis - male

What type of Metalmark? - Calephelis rawsoni - female

Mormon Metalmark - Apodemia mormo - male

Blue Metalmark - Lasaia peninsularis - female

Unidentified Butterfly - Apodemia palmerii

Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)

Family Riodinidae (Metalmarks)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Closely related to family Lycaenidae, and commonly placed within that family as a subfamily Riodininae. By American authors, more often listed as a full family, including: Opler & Warren, Layberry et al., Brock & Kaufman, Jon Pelham, Butterflies of America web site, etc.

Explanation of Names

The common name refers to the brilliant metallic markings of many members of the family.

Numbers

About 1400 species worldwide (Layberry et al.) 29 species in North America (1), with the highest diversity in the extreme south (Brock and Kaufman).

Range

Occur on most continents, but highest diversity is in the Neotropics.

Print References

Brock and Kaufman's Butterflies of North America (2)

Hall, J.P.W. & Harvey, D. J. (2002). A survey of androconial organs in the Riodinidae (Lepidoptera). Zool. Journ. of the Linnean Soc., 136: 171-197 (Full Text)

Internet References

Layberry et al. Butterflies of Canada

Opler and Warren's Butterfly checklist

Works Cited

1.	Annotated taxonomic checklist of the Lepidoptera of North America, North of Mexico Pohl, G.R., Patterson, B., & Pelham, J.P. 2016. ResearchGate.net.

2.	Butterflies of North America (Kaufman Focus Guides) Jim P. Brock, Kenn Kaufman. 2003. Houghton Mifflin Co.

Contributed by Joel Kits on 10 March, 2005 - 10:13pm
Additional contributions by Aaron Schusteff, David Ferguson, Kyhl Austin
Last updated 22 October, 2017 - 2:13pm

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