Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Insecta
Order:Lepidoptera
Family:Riodinidae
Scientific name:Melanis electron melantho - Ménétries, 1855.
Identification: Wing Width: 21 to 23 mm. Sexes similar.
Fore wing with dorsal surface black. Orange horizontal stripe in the middle area. With an orange stain in the apical end, a red spot in the area posbasal.
Hind wing black, with orange marginal band. In the area posbasal a red stain.
Range: Mexico to panama, trinidad, noth of South America.
Habitat: Edges of primary and secondary forest, abandoned logging trails and wooded pastures.
Food: Adults visit flowers of Inga marginata, Cordia sp., Lantana camara and Pithecellobiun longifolium.
Hosts: Pithecellobium samman (Mimosaceae).
