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Owl-Butterflies
Caligo
The owl butterflies are species of the genus Caligo and are known for their large eyespots, which resemble owls' eyes. They are found in the rainforests and secondary forests of Mexico, Central and South America.
Owl butterflies are very large, 65–200 mm (2.6–7.9 in), and fly only a few meters at a time, so avian predators have little difficulty in following them to their settling place. However, the butterflies preferentially fly in dusk, when few avian predators are around.
22 branches of this genus, most-observed first
Pale Owl-Butterfly
speciesCaligo telamonius
Dark Owl-Butterfly
speciesCaligo brasiliensis
Banded Owl-Butterfly
speciesCaligo atreus
Dusky Owl-Butterfly
speciesCaligo illioneus
Forest giant owl
speciesCaligo eurilochus
Purple Owl-Butterfly
speciesCaligo beltrao
Gold-edged Owl-Butterfly
speciesCaligo uranus
Fruhstorfer's Owl-Butterfly
speciesCaligo oedipus
Caligo idomeneus
speciesCaligo idomeneus
Teucer Owl-Butterfly
speciesCaligo teucer
Oileus Owl-Butterfly
speciesCaligo oileus
Caligo arisbe
speciesCaligo arisbe
Caligo placidianus
speciesCaligo placidianus
Caligo martia
speciesCaligo martia
Caligo oberthurii
speciesCaligo oberthurii
Caligo zeuxippus
speciesCaligo zeuxippus
Caligo prometheus
speciesCaligo prometheus
Caligo euphorbus
speciesCaligo euphorbus
Caligo bellerophon
speciesCaligo bellerophon
Caligo suzanna
speciesCaligo suzanna
Caligo superbus
speciesCaligo superbus
Caligo arisbe × martia
hybridCaligo arisbe × martia
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Caligo in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 55011.