Thereus
Thereus is a genus of gossamer-winged butterflies. Among these, it belongs to the tribe Eumaeini of the subfamily Theclinae. These small butterflies occur essentially all over the Neotropics.
Classification
Though this genus was first proposed long ago, for much of the time Thereus was included in the "wastebin genus" Thecla. However, the two genera are not particularly close relatives among their subfamily. In recent times, it has been proposed to remove several species from Thereus to smaller or even monotypic genera. While this might be warranted in some cases, it is not followed here pending more thorough study.The junior synonyms of Thereus are thus:Molus Hübner, Noreena K.Johnson, MacPherson & Ingraham, 1986Pedusa D'Abrera, 2001 Solanorum Johnson, 1992Timokla Johnson, Kruse & Kroenlein, 1997
Species
The following named species are placed in Thereus at present:Thereus brocki Robbins, Heredia & Busby, 2015Thereus caltha Thereus cithonius Thereus columbicola Thereus endera Thereus enenia Thereus eryssus Thereus gabathana Thereus genena Thereus guianivaga Thereus illex Thereus ismarus Thereus lausus Thereus lomalarga Robbins, Heredia & Busby, 2015Thereus lutzi Thereus molena Thereus oppia Thereus orasus Thereus ortalus Thereus pedusa Thereus praxis Thereus pseudarcula Thereus tiasa Thereus timoclea Thereus wojtusiaki Bálint, 2006In addition, a number of as yet undescribed butterflies are suspected to belong here too:Thereus sp. 'Amazonia'Thereus sp. 'Bahia'Thereus sp. 'Guatemala'Thereus sp. 'Ecuador 1'Thereus sp. 'Ecuador 2'Thereus sp. 'Panama 1'Thereus sp. 'Panama 2'?Thereus sp. 'Panama 3' Thereus sp. 'Peru'