The morpho butterflies comprise many species of Neotropical butterfly under the genus
Morpho. This genus
includes more
than 29 accepted species and 147 accepted subspecies, found mostly in South America, Mexico, and Central
America.
Morpho wingspans range from 7.5 cm (3.0 in) for M. rhodopteron to 20 cm (7.9 in) for M. hecuba, the imposing
sunset
morpho.
The name morpho, meaning "changed" or "modified", is also an
epithet.