Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 74
EUTERPE Terea.
EUTERPE Terea.
Papilio. (pars.) Latrielle. Sub-family Pieresinæ. Nob.
Generic Character.
Antennæ lengthened, terminating in a broad, very compressed, spatulate club. Palpi hairy; the first joint very long, exceeding the united length of the two next: second joint half as long as the first; third very small, manifestly shorter than the second. Anterior wings long, papilioniform; the exterior margin longer than the posterior. Nob.
Specific Character.
Wings above black: anterior both above and below, with a trifid white or yellowish central spot: posterior with a four-parted rosey spot; and varigated beneath, at the base, with yellow and rosy stripes.
Papilio Terias. Latrielle & Godart. En. Meth. 1. p. 38. No. 39.
Nature has so completely disguised this Butterfly in the form and colours of a genuine Papilio, as to have deceived the first entomologist now in Europe, and his most skilful and accurate coadjutator. In the Ency. Methodique we find this species recorded as a Papilio; whereas it perfectly agrees, in all the details of its structure, with the characters proposed in that valuable work for the genus Pieris. Whether nature has employed this beautiful device to indicate the group which next succeeds in her series, or whether she has intended it to point out a strong analogy, are questions which, in our present imperfect knowledge of Lepidopterous groups, cannot be answered.
Of this group we possess several new and highly interesting species. It is worthy of remark, that they were all collected in one particular locality, and at the same season. This was during a short residence at Mandioca, the plantation of Dr. Langsdorff, among the woods at the base of the Organ mountains, near Rio de Janeiro.
We believe this group is restricted to tropical America, where it probably represents the genuine Pieres, (as defined at pl. 69,) of the Old World. The present species is subject to much variation in the size, proportion, and colour of its spots: the white is sometimes pale yellow, and the rosy becomes of a deeper and brighter hue.