聖灰蝶屬

Male imagines of the disputed T. pedusa, upperside (left) and underwing

Thereus is a genus of gossamer-winged butterflies (family Lycaenidae). Among these, it belongs belong to the tribe Eumaeini of the subfamily Theclinae. These small butterflies occur essentially all over the Neotropics.^[1]

Classification

Though this genus was first proposed long ago, for much of the time Thereus was included in the "wastebin genus" Thecla. However, the two genera are not particularly close relatives among their subfamily. In recent times, it has been proposed to remove several species from Thereus to smaller or even monotypic genera. While this might be warranted in some cases, it is not followed here pending more thorough study.^[1]

The junior synonyms of Thereus are thus:^[1]

• Molus Hübner, [1819]
• Noreena K.Johnson, MacPherson & Ingraham, 1986
• Pedusa D'Abrera, 2001 (may be nomen nudum)
• Solanorum Johnson, 1992
• Timokla Johnson, Kruse & Kroenlein, 1997

Species

The following named species are placed in Thereus at present:^[1]

In addition, a number of as yet undescribed butterflies are suspected to belong here too:^[1]

• Thereus sp. 'Amazonia'
• Thereus sp. 'Bahia'
• Thereus sp. 'Guatemala'
• Thereus sp. 'Ecuador 1'
• Thereus sp. 'Ecuador 2'
• Thereus sp. 'Panama 1'
• Thereus sp. 'Panama 2'
• ?Thereus sp. 'Panama 3' (tentatively placed here)
• Thereus sp. 'Peru'

Data related to Thereus at Wikispecies

Footnotes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thereus.

• Savela, Markku. "Thereus Hübner, [1819]". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved September 30, 2019.