Phoebis sennae
| Cloudless Sulphur | |
|---|---|
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| Female | |
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| Male | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pieridae |
| Genus: | Phoebis |
| Species: | P. sennae |
| Binomial name | |
| Phoebis sennae (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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The Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) is a small to midsized butterfly in the family Pieridae found in the New World. There are several similar species such as the Yellow Angled-sulphur (Anteos maerula), which has angled wings, or other sulphurs, which are much smaller.
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[edit] Distribution
Their range is wide, from South America to southern Canada, in particular southwestern Ontario.[1] They are most common from Argentina to southern Texas and Florida, but are often visitors outside this range becoming more rare further north.
[edit] Habitat
The common habitats of this butterfly are open spaces, gardens, glades, seashores, and watercourses.
[edit] Habits
The adult butterfly feeds on nectar from many different flowers with long tubes including cordia, bougainvillea, cardinal flower, hibiscus, lantana, and wild morning glory.
[edit] Life cycle
The breeding season is dependent on the climate of the area, from midsummer to fall in the cooler areas, to year-round where the climate is warmer.
[edit] Egg
The Cloudless Sulphur starts off as a pitcher-shaped white egg. Eventually it will turn to a pale orange. The egg stage lasts six days.
[edit] Caterpillar
Once the egg hatches, a caterpillar emerges that is yellow to greenish, striped on sides, with black dots in rows across the back. The caterpillar will build a tent in a host plant where it hides in the day. The host plant may be partridge pea (Chamaecrista cinerea), sennas (Senna),[2] clovers (Trifolium), or other legumes (Fabaceae). The caterpillar will usually grow to a length between 41–45 mm (1.6–1.8 in).
[edit] Chrysalis
The caterpillar will form a chrysalis that is pointed at both ends and humped in the middle. the chrysalis will be either yellow or green with pink or green stripes.from the chrysalis comes a large butterfly (55-70mm(2.2-2.8))with fairly elongated but not angled wings.
[edit] Adult
The male butterfly is clear yellow above and yellow or mottled with reddish brown below and the female is lemon-yellow to golden or white on both surfaces, with varying amounts of black spotting along the margin and a black open square or star on the bottom forewing. Wingspan: 63–78 mm (2.5–3.1 in).
[edit] References
- ^ Cloudless Sulphur, Butterflies of Canada
- ^ Clark, Dale. "Phoebis sennae". Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society. http://www.dallasbutterflies.com/Butterflies/html/sennae.html. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
[edit] External links
- Cloudless Sulphur, Butterflies of North Carolina Online
- Video of Phoebis Sennae pupating and emerging, on YouTube
- Cloudless Sulphur, Butterflies and Moths of North America
