Presence of pterin pigments in wings of libytheidae butterflies.

A few pterin pigments were discovered in the wings of six of eight libytheid species tested, using thin-layer chromatography with 1 % HC1 in butanol as a solvent. A 10X sample ofLibytheana bachmanii larvata (Strecker) produced xanthopterin, isoxanthopterin, erythropterin, and leucopterin. Leucopterin was absent in the other libytheids tested. Morphology and pterin pigment data from wings suggest a Pieridae ancestry for the Libytheidae from the region of the northern Neotropical realm (including the Greater Antilles).