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.

Adelpha ethelda
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
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

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)