Urania is a genus of colorful, dayflying moths in the family Uraniidae, native to warmer parts of the Americas. Their larvae feed on Omphalea.
The genus name Urania is Neo-Latin from Latin Urania from Ancient Greek Ουρανία, one of the Muses, literally 'The Heavenly One'.Lees, David and Neal Smith (1991) Foodplants of the Uraniinae (Uraniinae) and their Systematic, Evolutionary and Ecological Significance or an OCR of the pdf document . In Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society, vol. 45. Retrieved October 29, 2006.The Century Dictionary by The Century Company.Available online.
Distribution The genus includes relatively large day-flying moths that are found in Mexico (rarely reaching north to Texas as a vagrant), Central America, warmer parts of South America and the Caribbean islands.
Species Urania boisduvalii Guérin-Meneville, 1829 – (Cuba) Urania brasiliensis Swainson, 1833 – (eastern Brazil) Urania leilus Linnaeus, 1758 – green-banded urania (tropical South America east of the Andes) Urania fulgens Walker, 1854 – urania swallowtail moth (Mexico, through Central America to northwestern South America) Urania poeyi Herrich-Schäffer, 1866 – (eastern Cuba) Urania sloanus Cramer, 1779 – Sloane's urania (Jamaica; extinct 1894)
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