Junonia evarete


Junonia evarete, the Tropical Buckeye or West Indian buckeye, is a Neotropical butterfly of the Nymphalids family. It has characteristic eye spots on the wings, which have a wingspan between 4.5 and 6.5 cm. This butterfly is easily confused with Junonia genoveva, the mangrove buckeye. Not only have the common names mangrove and tropical buckeye been confused, but the butterflies themselves have been sometimes misidentified in past literature, because the two species have many variations, subspecies and seasonal forms, which makes it difficult to identify or differentiate. Phylogenetic studies demonstrate the separation of evarete and genoveva, but evidence suggests that subspecies and perhaps additional species await their descriptions within this group.

Ecology

The Tropical Buckeye distribution ranges from southern North America to South America, also occurring in the Caribbean Islands, in a tropical and sub-tropical climate. It inhabits tropical plains, shrub and scrub areas, islands, primary and secondary forests, and urbanized and suburbanized habitats. Adults are nectarivores. Males generally stay in the vegetation or on the ground waiting for receptive females, even all day long. The female deposits her eggs, individually, under the leaves of the plants. The larvae feed on the leaves, preferably on the plants Mock Vervain ', Cayenne snakeweed ' and White Mangrove . With a very fast and low flight, the tropical buckeye prefers open and sunny fields.