Purple King Shoemaker Butterfly Prepona laertes/omphale

The Purple/Blue King Shoemaker Butterfly is native to much of Central and South America. It looks similar to other King Shoemaker butterflies, such as the Banded (Archaeoprepona demophon), also called One-spotted Prepona, and the Silver and the Three-toned Prepona, all of which have a turquoise bar but differ on the underside. The Purple King Shoemaker differs on both the topside - has purple/blue as well as turquoise - and the underside - has two dark blue "eye-spots," map lines and several little hearts rather like a small Purple Mort Bleu (Eryphanis polyxena).

The purple/blue shaded area is above the turquoise bar. Unlike other "shoemaker" butterflies (Grecian, Surinamese), male and female look similar (male has scent glands; female is larger).