Ithomiinae

Ithomiinae is an group exclusively neotropical with 350 species distributed in the tribes: Tithoreini, Melinaeini, Mechanitini, Napeogenini, Ithomiini, Dircennini, Godyridini (Lamas 2004).

Were historically important for the development of theories of mimicry created two centuries ago by naturalist Henry Walter Bates (1825 - 1892) and Johann Friedrich T. Müller (1821 -1897), based on  unpalatability of the species. Since then, an extensive series of investigations have been conducted exploring behavioral, chemical, genetic, geographical aspects, among others (Beccaloni 1997, Lamas, 2013).

About 20 species are listed Ithomiinae at the Invertebrate Collection of INPA, where the most abundant species are Mechanitis polymnia, Hypothyris ninonia, Sais rosalia, Aeria elara.