Cracker butterfly

Taxobox
name = Cracker butterfly (Calico butterfly)

---

image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Hamadryas februa"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
unranked_familia = Rhopalocera
superfamilia = Papilionoidea
familia = Nymphalidae
subfamilia = Biblidinae
tribus = Biblidini
subtribus = Ageroniina
genus = "Hamadryas"
genus_authority = Hübner, 1806
type_species = "Papilio amphinome"
type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1767
diversity = c.20 spp.
diversity_link = Hamadryas

Cracker butterflies are a neotropical group of medium-sized butterfly species of the genus "Hamadryas". They acquired their name due to the unusual way that males produce a "cracking" sound as part of their territorial displays.

Contrary to earlier erroneous supposition that the sound was produced by the male genitalia, the sound is produced by swollen veins in the forewings which strike one another if the male forces the wing upstroke to maximum amplitude. The females lack this sound-producing mechanism.

Nearly all species in the genus are fairly cryptic in their dorsal coloration, and they are fond of resting on trees, boulders, and other such surfaces against which they are camouflaged. Because of this coloration, these butterflies ares also colloquially known as Calico butterflies.

Research has also shown that cracker butterflies can also detect the sounds made by other butterflies, which would be a form of aural communication. [cite paper | url=http://pestalert.ifas.ufl.edu/butterflies_talk.htm | title=Butterflies can "talk" | author=Tim Lockette | publisher=UF/IFAS | date=2004-07-21 | accessdate=2006-05-16] The organ of hearing is believed to be Vogel's organ, located at the base of the forewing subcostal and cubital veins. [cite journal | last = Yack | first = Jayne E. | authorlink = | coauthors = L. Danier Otero, Jeff W. Dawson, Annemarie Surlykke and James H. Fullard | year = 2000 | title = Sound production and hearing in the blue cracker butterfly Hamadryas feronia (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) from Venezuela | journal =The Journal of Experimental Biology | volume = 203 | issue = | pages = 3689–3702 | doi = | id = | url = http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/203/24/3689 | format = HTML ]

pecies

*"Hamadryas albicornis" (Staudinger, 1885)
*"Hamadryas alicia" (Bates, 1865)
*"Hamadryas amphichloe" (Boisduval, 1870)
*"Hamadryas amphinome" (Linnaeus, 1767)
*"Hamadryas arete" (Doubleday, 1847)
*"Hamadryas arinome" (Lucas, 1853)
*"Hamadryas atlantis" (Bates, 1864)
*"Hamadryas belladonna" (Bates, 1865)
*"Hamadryas chloe" (Stoll, 1787)
*"Hamadryas epinome" (Felder & Felder, 1867)
*"Hamadryas februa" (Hübner, 1823)
*"Hamadryas feronia" (Linnaeus, 1758)
*"Hamadryas fornax" (Hübner, 1823)
*"Hamadryas glauconome" (Bates, 1864)
*"Hamadryas guatemalena" (Bates, 1864)
*"Hamadryas honorina" (Fruhstorfer, 1916)
*"Hamadryas iphthime" (Bates, 1864)
*"Hamadryas laodamia" (Cramer, 1777)
*"Hamadryas velutina" (Bates, 1865)

Most recent catalog:
* (Ed.). (2004). "Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist: Part 4A. Hesperioidea-Papilionoidea". Gainesville: Association for Tropical Lepidoptera. ISBN 094541728

Common names

Some "Hamadryas" common names in English, from Garwood et al. (2007):

*"Hamadryas amphinome" = Red Cracker
*"Hamadryas arinome" = Arinome Cracker
*"Hamadryas belladonna" = Belladonna Cracker
*"Hamadryas chloe" = Chloe Cracker
*"Hamadryas februa" = Gray Cracker
*"Hamadryas feronia" = Variable Cracker
*"Hamadryas iphthime" = Iphthime Cracker
*"Hamadryas laodamia" = Starry Night Cracker
*"Hamadryas velutina" = Velutina Cracker

Source:
* (2007). "Butterflies of Southern Amazonia". Mission, Texas: Neotropical Butterflies.

Taxonomy

The calico or speckled species of "Hamadryas" are often hard to distinguish, and most often these butterflies have to be examined as set specimens. The most recent revision is by Jenkins (1983).

* (1983). Neotropical Nymphalidae. I. Revision of "Hamadryas". "Bulletin of the Allyn Museum, 81", 1-146.

References

External links

* [http://www.nic.funet.fi/index/Tree_of_life//insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/nymphalidae/biblidinae/hamadryas/index.html Table of species] by Markku Savela
* [http://www.zoologi.su.se/research/wahlberg/Nymphalidae/Ageroniini.htm Species with synonyms]
* [http://travel.mongabay.com/pix/honduras--ruins_moth.html Photograph of a Cracker Butterfly]