Adelpha ethelda, the Ethelda sister, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by William Chapman Hewitson in 1867. It is found from Mexico to Ecuador. The habitat consists of pre-montane rainforests and cloud forests at altitudes ranging from 400 to 2,000 meters.

Adelpha ethelda
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Adelpha
Species:
A. ethelda
Binomial name
Adelpha ethelda
(Hewitson, 1867)[1]
Synonyms
  • Heterochroa ethelda Hewitson, 1867
  • Heterochroa zalmona Hewitson, 1871
  • Adelpha sophax Godman & Salvin, 1878
  • Adelpha eponina volupis Fruhstorfer, 1915

The wingspan is 34–37 mm.[2] Adult males have been recorded imbibing mineralised moisture from damp soil, boulders, sandy river beaches or from aphid secretions on foliage.[3]

Larvae have been recorded feeding on Sabicea aspera.

Subspecies

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  • A. e. ethelda (Ecuador)
  • A. e. eponina Staudinger, 1886 (Colombia)
  • A. e. galbao Brévignon, 1995 (French Guiana)
  • A. e. sophax Godman & Salvin, 1878 (Costa Rica, Panama)
  • A. e. zalmona (Hewitson, 1871) (Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia)

References

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  1. ^ "Adelpha Hübner, [1819]" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. ^ Especies de Costa Rica Archived March 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Adelpha ethelda in learnaboutbutterflies