1984] 
Aiello — Genus Adelpha 
15 
and when it does, the scoli on the outside of the curve stick out all 
around and the animal resembles a bit of moss. Moss (1933) 
reported the same behavior and appearance for A. thesprotia. 
Foodplants 
At first inspection, it would appear that larvae of Adelpha 
butterflies are not very particular about their foodplant selection. 
Indeed, some 56 plant species, representing 42 genera and 16 
families have been reported as larval foodplants of Adelpha. 
Moreover, many Adelpha species are known to be polyphagous: A. 
melanthe, delphicola, and isis have each been reared on three plant 
genera, A. celerio on four, and A. cocala and iphicla each on eight. 
Cecropia (Cecropiaceae), Sabicea (Rubiaceae), and Vitex (Verben- 
aceae) are each attacked by five different species of Adelpha. 
However, when larval foodplants are grouped by the butterfly 
species which feed upon them (Table 3), a pattern does emerge: 
Adelpha species fall nicely into two main feeding groups: (1) 
Rubiaceous feeders, and (2) Non-rubiaceous feeders. 
With the following three exceptions, butterfly species that feed 
upon members of the Rubiaceae have not been reported on plants 
outside that family. A. boreas tizona was reared on both Rubiaceae 
and Ericaceae (Marquis and DeVries, unpublished); A. cocala, 
reared on seven members of the Rubiaceae, also has been reported 
on Emmotum of the Icacinaceae (Moss, 1933); A. syma, on 
Rubiaceae and Rosaceae. The record of A. iphicla iphicleola on 
Celtis (Ulmaceae) (Comstock and Vazquez, 1960) is in error; their 
butterfly was actually Doxocopa, misidentified as Adelpha. 
It is interesting to note that the rubiaceous genera, utilized as 
foodplants by Adelpha, belong to at least seven of the 18 tribes 
outlined for the Rubiaceae by Kirkbride (1982). 
Several non-rubiaceous feeders do show wide foodplant pref- 
erences, the extreme examples being: A. melanthe which feeds on 
three plant genera representing three families, and A. celerio which 
feeds on five genera in four families. The only common bond among 
the foodplants of these two butterflies seems to be that all are 
scabrous- or pubescent-leaved, second-growth trees. Some plants 
attract a more specialized group of feeders: Vitex (Verbenaceae) is 
attacked by A. abia, calliphane, epizygis, and jordani, which have 
not been reported on any other plants. A. naxia ipiphilca, also 
