Archaeoprepona is a genus of Neotropical charaxine

Charaxinae

Charaxinae, the leafwings, is a nymphalid subfamily of butterflies that includes about 400 species, inhabiting mainly the tropics, although some species extend into temperate regions in North America, Europe, China and southern Australia. There are significant variations between the species...

 butterflies in the family Nymphalidae

Nymphalidae

The Nymphalidae is a family of about 5,000 species of butterflies which are distributed throughout most of the world. These are usually medium sized to large butterflies. Most species have a reduced pair of forelegs and many hold their colourful wings flat when resting. They are also called...

, native to Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

, northern South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 and the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

. The underside of their wings is pale brownish, while the upperside is dark with a distinct bright blue band.

Taxonomy

Most taxa were described before Fruhstorfer

Hans Fruhstorfer

Hans Fruhstorfer was a German explorer, insect trader and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. He collected and described many new species of exotic butterflies, especially in Seitz's Macrolepidoptera of the World...

 coined the genus Archaeoprepona in 1916, and were therefore originally placed in other genera. This include the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 of the genus, Archaeoprepona demophon, first described as Papilio

Papilio

Papilio is a genus in the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae. The word papilio is Latin for butterfly.The genus includes a number of well-known North American species such as the Western Tiger Swallowtail...

 demophon by Linnaeus. Even after the description of the genus Archaeoprepona, the members have commonly been included in Prepona

Prepona

Prepona is a genus of Neotropical charaxine butterflies in the family Nymphalidae. They are strong fliers in tropical forests where they feed on fermenting fruits and animal dung. The underside of the wings is pale greyish or brownish, while the upperside is dark with distinct iridescent blue...

 instead.

Species and subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 in the genus Archaeoprepona:

• Archaeoprepona Fruhstorfer, 1916
  • Archaeoprepona amphimachus
    Archaeoprepona amphimachus
    The White-spotted Prepona is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. It is found from Mexico to Bolivia. It is found in rainforests and humid deciduous forests at altitudes between sea level and about 1,500 meters....
    
     (Fabricius, 1775)
    • Archaeoprepona amphimachus amphimachus (Fabricius, 1775)
    • Archaeoprepona amphimachus amphiktion Fruhstorfer, 1924
    • Archaeoprepona amphimachus baroni
    • Archaeoprepona amphimachus megacles Fruhstorfer, 1916
    • Archaeoprepona amphimachus symaithus Fruhstorfer, 1916
  • Archaeoprepona camilla (Godman & Salvin, 1884)
  • Archaeoprepona chalciope (Hübner)
    • Archaeoprepona chalciope chalciope (Hübner)
    • Archaeoprepona chalciope chalcis Fruhstorfer, 1916
    • Archaeoprepona chalciope domna Fruhstorfer, 1916
  • Archaeoprepona demophon
    Archaeoprepona demophon
    The One-spotted prepona, Archaeoprepona demophon, is a butterfly belonging to the Nymphalidae family.-Description:The wingspan reaches about . The uppersides of the wings is black, with bright pale blue transverse bands...
    
     (Linnaeus, 1758)
    • Archaeoprepona demophon demophon (Linnaeus, 1758)
    • Archaeoprepona demophon centralis Fruhstorfer, 1904
    • Archaeoprepona demophon muson Fruhstorfer, 1904
  • Archaeoprepona demophoon (Hübner, 1814)
    • Archaeoprepona demophoon demophoon (Hübner, 1814)
    • Archaeoprepona demophoon andicola Fruhstorfer, 1904
    • Archaeoprepona demophoon gulina Fruhstorfer, 1904
    • Archaeoprepona demophoon lyde Fruhstorfer, 1916
    • Archaeoprepona demophoon mexicana Llorente, Descimon & Johnson, 1993
    • Archaeoprepona demophoon tyrias Fruhstorfer, 1916
  • Archaeoprepona licomedes (Cramer, 1777)
  • Archaeoprepona luctuosus Walch.
  • Archaeoprepona meander
    Archaeoprepona meander
    The Meander Prepona or Three-toned Prepona when referring to subspecies megabates, is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family...
    
     (Cramer, 1775)
    • Archaeoprepona meander meander (Cramer, 1775)
    • Archaeoprepona meander amphimachus (Fabricius, 1775)
    • Archaeoprepona meander megabates Fruhstorfer, 1916
    • Archaeoprepona meander phoebus Boisduval, 1870
  • Archaeoprepona phaedra (Godman & Salvin, 1882)

External links

• Archaeoprepona Photographs of specimens. Many are types
  Holotype
  A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
  
  
• Pteron in Japanese but has binomial names.
• Archaeoprepona at funet.fi