Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 9, 2026

Adelpha ethelda

Adelpha ethelda, the Ethelda sister, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by William Chapman Hewitson in 1867. It is found from Mexico to Ecuador. The habitat consists of pre-montane rainforests and cloud forests at altitudes ranging from 400 to 2,000 meters.

Last revised
Jul 9, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
191 w
Citations
3
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Adelpha ethelda
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Adelpha
Species:
A. ethelda
Binomial name
Adelpha ethelda
(Hewitson, 1867)1
Synonyms
  • Heterochroa ethelda Hewitson, 1867
  • Heterochroa zalmona Hewitson, 1871
  • Adelpha sophax Godman & Salvin, 1878
  • Adelpha eponina volupis Fruhstorfer, 1915

Adelpha ethelda, the Ethelda sister, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by William Chapman Hewitson in 1867. It is found from Mexico to Ecuador. The habitat consists of pre-montane rainforests and cloud forests at altitudes ranging from 400 to 2,000 meters.

The wingspan is 34–37 mm.2 Adult males have been recorded imbibing mineralised moisture from damp soil, boulders, sandy river beaches or from aphid secretions on foliage.3

Larvae have been recorded feeding on Sabicea aspera.

Subspecies

  • A. e. ethelda (Ecuador)
  • A. e. eponina Staudinger, 1886 (Colombia)
  • A. e. galbao Brévignon, 1995 (French Guiana)
  • A. e. sophax Godman & Salvin, 1878 (Costa Rica, Panama)
  • A. e. zalmona (Hewitson, 1871) (Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia)
References

References

  1. "Adelpha Hübner, [1819]" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. Especies de Costa Rica Archived March 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Adelpha ethelda in learnaboutbutterflies