Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Nymphalidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Morpho | |
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Similar Phengaris alcon, Phoebis philea, Cithaerias, Cethosia hypsea hypsina, Papilio anchisiades | ||
Taxonomy
When first described in 1782 laertes was placed in the genus Papilio. The specimen was from Brasília. It is a valid name in The Global Lepidoptera Names Index.
Currently it is placed in the subgenus Pessonia (Le Moult & Réal 1962) of genus Morpho, along with the closely related species Morpho catenarius (Perry, 1811), Morpho luna (Butler), Morpho polyphemus (Dixey), and Morpho titei (Drury, 1770). It is now considered a junior synonym of Morpho epistrophus.
Etymology
The name comes from Laërtes, a figure in Greek mythology.
References
Morpho laertes Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA