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Chlosyne lacinia

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Chlosyne lacinia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Chlosyne
Species:
C. lacinia
Binomial name
Chlosyne lacinia
(Geyer, 1837)

Chlosyne lacinia, the bordered patch or sunflower patch, is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.[1]

Description

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Upperside of wings
Underside of wings

The bordered patch is an extremely variable butterfly. The upperside of the wings is mainly black with the forewing having rows of white and/or yellow-orange spots of varying sizes.[2] There is usually one whitish spot in the forewing cell.[3] The hindwing has many color variations. Those variations can be: almost completely black to having some red postmedian spots to having a few rows of white postmedian spots to having an all red-orange discal area to having a yellow-orange postmedian band of varying width.[3] The underside of the wings is just as variable as the upperside. It varies from having a few rows of white and red spots to having a yellow-white hindwing median band of varying width to the underside being mostly golden yellow with large yellow-orange spots and a thick golden-yellow median band.[3][2] All of these variations have a red spot near the hindwing tornus.[1] Its wingspan ranges from 1+14 to 1+78 inches (32 to 48 mm).[4]

Similar species

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Similar species in the bordered patch's range include the crimson patch (Chlosyne janais), the rosita patch (Chlosyne rosita), and the red-spotted patch (Chlosyne marina).

The crimson patch is larger, the upperside of the forewing has two spots in the cell, and the underside of the hindwing has a yellow basal patch with black spots in it.[3][2]

The upperside of the rosita patch's hindwing has a basal patch which is often two toned, and the underside of the hindwing is mostly pale yellow with a thick black marginal border.[3]

The red-spotted patch has a row of red marginal spots on the upperside, and underside of the hindwing.[3]

Habitat

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C. lacinia adjutrix larva.

The bordered patch may be encountered in habitats such as desert hills, mesquite woodlands, pinyon woodlands, and oak woodlands.[4][1] In North America, this species prefers to inhabit agricultural areas and weedy wastelands where the preferred host plant Helianthus annuus occurs.

Flight

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This species is found from May to October in California, late January to mid-November in Arizona, and all year in southern Texas.[1][4]

Life cycle

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A mating pair of bordered patches

Males will find females by awaiting them on hilltops.[2] Females will lay their eggs in clusters of about 100 or more on the underside of host plant leaves. The eggs are pale yellow green but later turn a reddish color. The young larvae feed together and but do not make a nest. They will become solitary when older.[1] The larva is as variable as the adult. It ranges from mostly orange with black spines and stripes to black with a red-orange mid-dorsal stripe to almost all black. All variations have a red-orange head.[5] The chrysalis varies from almost all white to white with black markings to nearly all black. The third instar larva hibernates and also estivates.[1] The bordered patch has three or four broods per year.[2]

Host plants

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Here is a list of host plants used by the bordered patch:

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g James A. Scott (1986). The Butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. ISBN 0-8047-2013-4
  2. ^ a b c d e Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman (2003). Butterflies of North America. Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY. ISBN 0-618-15312-8
  3. ^ a b c d e f Jeffrey Glassberg (2007). A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America. Sunstreak Books Inc. ISBN 978-1-4243-0915-3
  4. ^ a b c d Bob Stewart, Priscilla Brodkin, and Hank Brodkin (2001). Butterflies of Arizona. West Coast Lady Press. ISBN 0-9663072-1-6
  5. ^ Thomas J. Allen, Jim P. Brock and Jeffrey Glassberg (2005). Caterpillars in the Field and Garden. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. ISBN 978-0-19-514987-6