Tmolus echion

Tmolus echion, the red-spotted hairstreak or larger lantana butterfly, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found from Brazil, north to Sinaloa and Tamaulipas in Mexico. Rare strays can be found in southern Texas. It was introduced to Hawaii in 1902 to control lantana.

Tmolus echion
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Tmolus
Species:	T. echion
Binomial name
Tmolus echion (Linnaeus, 1767)
Synonyms
Papilio echion Linnaeus, 1767 Ministrymon echion Thecla echion Papilio crolus Stoll, [1780] Thecla labes Druce, 1907 Thecla sanctissima Jörgensen, 1935 Thecla echion f. echiolus Draudt, 1920

The wingspan is 22–32 mm. Adults are on wing in May in southern Texas and year-round in Hawaii and Mexico. Adults feed on flower nectar.

The larvae feed on various tropical plants including verbena, mint and potato species.

Subspecies

• Tmolus echion echion
• Tmolus echion echiolus (Draudt, 1920) (Mexico)

External links

• Nearctica