The classification of Mechanitis, when based entirely on appearance of wing pattern and color is inaccurate because of the incidence of polymorphic butterflies.

When wing patterns are similar the accuracy in identifying butterfly species is improved with the use of ecological and mitochondrial DNA.

[2] The mature Mechanitis butterflies in the genus have warning colors which are black, orange, and yellow.

[5] They are thin and small bodied butterflies with rounded wings and long yellow antennae.

[11] Another theory is that a reflective exterior does not reduce predation but it may assist the larva in regulating their body temperature while pupating.

Unlike the jewel beetles, which retain their chitin, the Mechanitis chrysalis loses the reflective coating in about a week.

[11] The fragile coating which gives the chrysalis of the Mechanitis its golden sheen is caused by light reflecting on the transparent chitin.

[14] If the target is recognized as a male, the chasing butterfly usually returns to his original observational place.

[6] The genus is distributed throughout the humid forests from Mexico to southern Brazil, into Paraguay, and stretching to three of the Caribbean islands.