Spicauda proteus - a photo on Flickriver

Spicauda proteus

God of Wings

Description: Urbanus is a genus of butterflies in the order Lepidoptera, subdivision Bombycina, superfamily Papilionoidea (still being called Hesperioidea by some entities), family Hesperiidae and subfamily Eudaminae. They possess a wingspan of approximately 38-48mm, averaging at, seemingly mostly, 46mm. The subject portrayed is SEEMINGLY a male, but there are no guarantees on this information as it is based on very tiny visual details and I might be mistaken.

Synonyms to this taxon include:

Goniurus procne (Plötz, 1880)
Teleus procne.

The larvae are polyphytophagous.

According to Cesar of Insetologia, the identification is suggested as U. procne because:

"All should occur in the Ceará state (www.biotaneotropica.org.br/v11n4/pt/fullpaper?bn019110420...), I can't discard anything from here;

U. simplicius' (www.butterfliesofamerica.com/L/urbanus_simplicius_live1.htm) highlight seem to be due to the patterns on the second pair of wings;

In BugGuide (bugguide.net/node/view/1379402/bgimage), someone comments about a clearer mark beneath the club of U. teleus (www.butterfliesofamerica.com/L/urbanus_teleus_live1.htm), differentiating them from U. procne (www.butterfliesofamerica.com/L/urbanus_procne_live3.htm), which in your specimen seems absent;

I could also note the same trait of U. teleus in U. tanna (www.butterfliesofamerica.com/L/urbanus_tanna_live.htm), not being, however, evident in all specimens;

In U. tanna, the fringe of the second pair of wings is more highlighted, more clear, which merges with the previous characteristic indicating this is a U. procne." - www.insetologia.com.br/2018/09/borboleta-urbanus-no-ceara...

They are located from Argentina, North through Central America and Mexico to Southern Texias. Strays can be rarely found up to Southern New Mexico, Southern Arizona and Southern California. They have a very wide distribution in Brazil, South America.

U. procne possess brown wings. The forewings possess two thin, longitudinal white stripes, the one distal from the body being shorter. Scent scales on the costal fold on the leading edge of the forewings are characteristic to the males. The brown spot close to the costa is separated from the inner stripe on the underside of the hindwings. Adults are tailed. Eggs are laid by the female on the host plants; when born, the larvae will feed on the leaves. When young, the larvae will live in a nest made of a folded leaf. Larvae are green with a reddish "neck" and a large dark head, varying in a darker coloring throughout instars and can reach around 35mm by the last instar. When older, the larvae are red-brown with a finely stippled white and broken white mid-dorsal line. The head is large with a constricted "neck" and narrow pronotum. They will hide during the day on the base of the plant and will feed during night. The pupa is made inside a loose cocoon, hidden and camouflaged in leaf litter. (books.google.com.br/books?id=qMwOAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA32&amp...)

The pupa is dark brown and can be found here:
www.thedauphins.net/brown_longtail_life_cycle_study.html

Eggs are rounded and whitish-yellow. The egg-adult process takes around 40 days.

In Southern Texas there are three broods throughout the year. Host plants include Cynodon dactylon ((L.) Pers., 1805) (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae) ("Bermuda grass"), Sorghum halepense ((L.) Pers.) (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Andropogogoneae: Sorghinae) ("Johnsongrass") and most of the Gramineae family.

Their habitats include grassy openings in tropical and subtropical primary or secondary forests. The species is suffering decline in the lower Rio Grande Valley, requiring security, monitoring and conservation. Seemingly, they are not under threat due to their very wide distribution, but they are rare in some of those areas like and, especially, the periphery.

Further sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanus_procne
eol.org/pages/253099/overview

Identified by Cesar of Insetologia, the link was posted along this post.

PROJECT NOAH (Português): www.projectnoah.org/spottings/1757255752

Taken in: Brasil / Ceará / Fortaleza (show map)

Taken on: June 2, 2018

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Camera: Nikon D7000, f/14.0, 1/250 sec, 60mm (=90mm), ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D7000
Lens:	60.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	60mm (35mm equivalent: 90mm)
ISO:	250
Exposure Bias:	+1 EV
Flash:	On, Return detected
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 7.1 (Windows)
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