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Myrina sharpei

(Sharpes Fig Tree Blue)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Sharpes Fig Tree Blue

Description

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Family Lycaenidae

'The Lycaenidae are members of the Superfamily Papilionoidea, the true butterflies. Worldwide in distribution, this family has approximately 4,700 species that are unevenly distributed. Coppers are especially dominant in north temperate regions , blues are richest in the Old World tropics and north temperate zones, and hairstreaks are particularly abundant in New World tropics. The adults are typically small to tiny and often brilliantly colored--iridescent blues, bright reds, and oranges. Adults of both sexes have three pairs of walking legs , though most males have fused segments in their front legs. Most adults visit flowers for nectar, but some harvesters feed on wooly aphid honeydew and some hairstreaks feed on aphid honeydew or bird droppings. Females lay single, sea urchin shaped eggs on host leaves or flower buds; the resulting caterpillars are typically slug-shaped. In many species, caterpillars depend on ants for protection, so caterpillars produce sugary secretions that are collected by the ants. Most species overwinter in either the egg or pupal stage.

'[1]

Subfamily Theclinae

Hairstreaks are members of the Family Lycaenidae. Richest in tropical habitats , hairstreaks are numerous in the Americas and comprise about 1,000 species. In tropical species, the upperside of small to medium-sized adults is often iridescent blue, due to reflected light from the wing scales . However, most of the North American species are brown above. Migration is rare, but a few species (such as the Gray Hairstreak) are good long-distance colonists . Males perch to await mates, and females lay eggs singly. Caterpillars usually feed on leaves or reproductive structures of woody trees or shrubs . Interestingly, the chrysalids of several species can produce sounds between their abdominal segments, likely related to their interactions with ants . Hairstreaks typically overwinter in the egg or pupal stage.[2]

Habitat

Biome: Terrestrial [3].

Ecology: The habitat is primary dry forests . The genus is very much an inhabitant of dry zones and feeds on many species of figs. The reason for their rarity is probably that they are strict canopy dwellers feeding on emergent strangler figs and treating the canopy as a savannah habitat (Larsen 1991).[3].

List of Habitats:

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

This species is split into the two subspecies Myrina sharpei sharpei and M. sharpei fontainei.[3].

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Myrina

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1 species and subspecies in this genus:

M. sharpei (Sharpes Fig Tree Blue)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=16&sci=Lycaenidae&com=Gossamer-wing Butterflies [back]
  2. http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Euristrymon&search=Search [back]
  3. Larsen, T.B. 2011. Myrina sharpei. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 02 February 2012. [back]
Last Revised: 7/22/2012