Caligo beltrao (Illiger, 1801) - male

Unknown artist

At the needle there is the label for determining Aurelian Popescu-Gorj; specimen from the collection Julio Bick Specie spread in southern Brazil (the states of Rio de Janeiro, Paraná and Santa Catarina) and northern Argentina (the province of Misiones). It is known as the cap-de-owl butterfly (like most species of the genus Caligo), due to the fact that the drawing on the lower face of the hind wings is reminiscent of an owl with wide open eyes. This is an effective defense method against predators, the eye on the wings serving to deceive their predators: they can simulate either the presence of a larger animal, scaring the potential predator, or distract them from the head, attracting the attack of the predators to the tip of the wings, a less dangerous area whose damage is not critical to the survival of the butterfly, which also has time to flee after the attack has failed. The adults are twilight and suck the juices from the fallen fruits on the ground; the larvae develop on banana leaves but also on other species from the Canaceae, Marantacea and Zingiberaceae families (Canna indica, Calathea zebrina, Hedychium coronarium, etc). The staging of pupa lasts about 1 month.