Urania leilus
| Green-banded urania | |
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| Tambopata National Reserve, Peru | |
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| Species: | U. leilus
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| Binomial name | |
| Urania leilus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Urania leilus, the green-banded urania, is a day-flying moth of the Uraniidae family. It is found in tropical South America east of the Andes, including Suriname, French Guiana, east Colombia, Venezuela, east Ecuador, Brazil, north Bolivia, east Peru, and Trinidad. It has been recorded as a vagrant to the central and northern Lesser Antilles such as St. Kitts, Barbados and Dominica.[1][2] The habitat consists of riverbanks in primary and secondary rainforest at elevations between sea level and about 800 m (2,600 ft).
It is sometimes confused with the similar U. fulgens, but that species is found west of the Andes in South America, Central America, and Mexico, is slightly smaller and has less white to the "tail".[2] The two have been treated as conspecific.[2]
The wingspan of U. leilus is about 70 mm (2.8 in).
As appears to be the case for all Urania, the larvae of U. leilus feed exclusively on the toxic Omphalea species.[3]
References
- ^ Barnes, M.J.C. (2002). Urania leilus. Moths of the Grenadines. Accessed 12 October 2011.
- ^ a b c Smith, N.G. (1972). Migrations of the day-flying moth Urania in Central and South America. Caribbean Journal of Science 12: 45-58
- ^ Lees, D.C. and N.G. Smith (1991). Foodplant Associations of the Uraniinae (Uraniidae) and their Systematic, Evolutionary, and Ecological Significance. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 45(4): 296-347.
