Cirrochroa
Introduction '''''Cirrochroa''''', commonly called '''yeomen''', is a genus of butterflies of the subfamily Heliconiinae in the family Nymphalidae found in southeast Asia. The genus ranges from India to New Guinea.
Description Fairly large, broad-winged butterflies. The outer edges of the wings are wavy. The ground colour of the upper side is usually brown-orange, but can also be brown or blue. The wingtips are usually darker, and often have one or more thin brown zigzag lines along the outer edge and a series of brown spots on the hindwing. The underside of the wings is usually light brownish at the root, darker in the outer half. ''Cirrochroa'' is very nearly allied to ''Cynthia''; but one can immediately recognize them through the delicate antennae, which are only slightly thickened at the end, and which bear no distinctly defined club. Further distinguishing characters are to be found in the strongly swollen palpi, the last joint of which is very finely pointed, the naked eyes and the simple precostal vein, which branches from behind the base of the subcostal, and which is slightly bent outwards. The neuration of ''Cirrochroa'' does not differ essentially from that of ''Cynthia'' and on this account is sharply divided from ''Cupha'', the only other ''Argynnis''-Genus, which possesses clubless antennae.
Biology These butterflies prefer to live in forest edges up to 1000 meters above sea level. At least one of the species has larvae that live on the plant genus ''Hydnocarpus'' ( ''Achariaceae'' ). The butterflies are fast fliers, and relatively shy. They like to come down to the ground to soak up moisture.
Species In alphabetical order:* ''Cirrochroa aoris'' Doubleday, 1847 – large yeoman* ''Cirrochroa clagia'' (Godart, 1824)* ''Cirrochroa emalea'' (Guérin-Méneville, 1843) – Malay yeoman* ''Cirrochroa eremita'' Tsukada, 1985* ''Cirrochroa imperatrix'' Grose-Smith, 1894* ''Cirrochroa malaya'' C. & R. Felder, 1860* ''Cirrochroa menones'' Semper, 1888* ''Cirrochroa niassica'' Honrath, 1892* ''Cirrochroa nicobarica'' Wood-Mason, 1881* ''Cirrochroa orissa'' C. & R. Felder, 1860 – banded yeoman * ''Cirrochroa recondita'' Roos, 1996* ''Cirrochroa regina'' C. & R. Felder, 1867* ''Cirrochroa satellita'' Butler, 1869* ''Cirrochroa semiramis'' C. & R. Felder, 1867* ''Cirrochroa surya'' Moore, 1879 – little yeoman* ''Cirrochroa thais'' (Fabricius, 1787) – Tamil yeoman * ''Cirrochroa tyche'' C. & R. Felder, 1861 – common yeoman * ''Cirrochroa thule'' C. & R. Felder, 1860
References
External links * Images representing ''Cirrochroa'' at EOL* Images representing ''Cirrochroa'' at Consortium for the Barcode of Life