Agrias claudina sardanapalus
 
Agrias claudina, the Claudina Agrias, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.[1] It is found from Venezuela and Guyana to Bolivia. The subspecies A. c. sardanapalus is found in Ecuador, Brazil and Peru. It is found in primary and secondary rainforest at altitudes between 200 and 600 meters.
Charaxinae are represented in the neotropics by 2 tribes - the Anaeini, which includes Consul, Memphis, Anaea, Polygrapha, Coenophlebia, Fountainea, Zaretis, Hypna and Siderone; and the Preponini, which includes Anaeomorpha, Archaeoprepona, Prepona, Noreppa and Agrias.
There are 5 Agrias species, and numerous subspecies. The uppersides are rarely glimpsed as the butterflies always feed and rest with their wings firmly closed, but if disturbed they will sometimes give a very rapid flick of the wings, exposing the glorious upperside. In claudina the upperside is dark brown with vivid crimson patches on the forewings. In croesus a smaller patch of the same color is repeated on the hindwings. The most beautiful subspecies is sardanapalus, in which the hindwings instead are adorned with a large patch of brilliant metallic blue.
Agrias are one of an extremely small number of butterflies which have been known to hybridise with other genera in the wild - a taxon named Prepona x sarumani was described by Smart in 1976, and is believed to be a hybrid between Prepona praeneste abrupta x Agrias claudina lugens. It was captured at Rio Huallaga, Peru. Fruhstorfer recognised the very close relationship between Prepona and Agrias, and some authors e.g. DeVries question whether the 2 genera are distinct. The current taxonomical "bible" - the Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera (Lamas, 2004 ) regards the 2 genera as being distinct, and recognizes the hybrid under the name given to it by Smart.
Males of all Agrias species have prominent yellow tufts of androconial scales on the hindwings, that disseminate pheromones to entice females to copulate. This species is found in deciduous and evergreen forest at altitudes between about 200-600m Agrias claudina, the Claudina Agrias, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found from Venezuela and Guyana to Bolivia. The subspecies A. c. sardanapalus is found in Ecuador, Brazil and Peru. It is found in primary and secondary rainforest at altitudes between 200 and 600 meters.
 The larvae feed on Erythroxylum species. Adults feed on decomposing fruit and rotting fish.