Visual-system-diversity
Guides
Ithomiini
clearwings, glasswings, tigerwings
Ithomiini is a diverse tribe of approximately 370 species in 40–45 genera, endemic to the Neotropics from Mexico to Argentina. These butterflies are renowned for their Müllerian mimicry rings, slow flight, and unpalatability derived from sequestered pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Adults actively seek out and sequester these defensive compounds from plants rather than synthesizing them de novo. The tribe represents the largest known radiation of Müllerian mimetic butterflies and dominates Neotropical mimetic butterfly communities by number.