Bug FAQSilver-studded Leafwing
Hypna clytemnestra · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae
The silver-studded leafwing is the biggest member of its tribe and has black forewings with white spots and two wide white bands, while its hindwings are mostly brown and the underside looks like a dead leaf. It lives from lowland areas up to about 1,200 m in Mexico through Central America to the Amazon basin, where larvae eat the plant Croton floribundus and adults sip rotting fruit.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Forewings are black with a few white edge spots and two large white crosswise bands. Hindwings are mainly brown on top.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
It is the largest species in the tribe Anaeini.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Found in lowlands and foothills between about 100 and 1,200 m elevation.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Caterpillars feed on the plant Croton floribundus (family Euphorbiaceae). Adult butterflies feed on rotting fruit.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its range extends from Mexico down through the Amazon basin.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
The genus Hypna contains only this species, so there are no other butterflies it is commonly confused with.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
Where can I find the silver-studded leafwing?
It lives in lowland and foothill areas from about 100 to 1,200 m elevation, ranging from Mexico through the Amazon basin.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Nymphalidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypna
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.