Phoebis sennae

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Phoebis sennae, the cloudless sulphur, is a mid-sized butterfly in the family Pieridae found in the Americas. There are several similar species such as the clouded sulphur (Colias philodice), the yellow angled-sulphur (Anteos maerula), which has angled wings, the statira sulphur (Aphrissa statira), and other sulphurs, which are much smaller. The species name comes from the genus Senna to which many of the larval host plants belong.

Distribution

Their range is wide, from South America to southern Canada, in particular southwestern Ontario.<ref name="Cloudless Sulphur">Cloudless Sulphur, Butterflies of Canada</ref> They are most common from Argentina to southern Texas, Georgia, and Florida, but are often visitors outside this range becoming more rare further north.

Habitat

The common habitats of this butterfly are open spaces, gardens, glades, seashores, and watercourses.

Diet

The adult butterfly feeds on nectar from many different flowers with long tubes including cordia, bougainvillea, cardinal flower, hibiscus, lantana, and wild morning glory. The larvae also feed on sennas and partridge peas.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Senna hebecarpa (American senna) is a larval host and nectar source for the cloudless sulphur butterfly in the Eastern United States.<ref name=ladybird>Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Information Network: Senna hebecarpa</ref>

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.

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.

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 host plant may be sensitive peas (Chamaecrista),<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> sennas (Senna),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> clovers (Trifolium), or other legumes (Fabaceae). The caterpillar will usually grow to a length between Template:Convert.

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 medium-sized butterfly (Template:Convert) with fairly elongated but not angled wings.

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. Wing spans range from 4.8 to 6.5 cm (approximately 1.9

to 2.6 in)<ref name=":0" />.

Female
Male
Monsanto Insectarium, St. Louis Zoo
Caterpillar
Yellow version of caterpillar feeding on senna tree, Vista, California
Chrysalis on senna tree, Vista, California
Male P. s. marcellina
in the Pantanal, Brazil
Male P. s. marcellina
in Panama, some males are unmarked

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:<ref>Phoebis sennae, funet.fi</ref>

P. s. amphitrite (Feisthamel, 1839) – Chile
P. s. sennae or P. s. eubule<ref name="Cloudless Sulphur"/> – Jamaica, South Carolina, Kansas, Virginia, Florida, Cuba

Former subspecies

P. s. marcellina (Cramer, [1779]) – Mexico, Uruguay, Galapagos, Suriname, Honduras, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru - elevated to full species status as Phoebis marcellina in 2020<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

References

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External links

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Cloudless Sulphur, Butterflies of North Carolina Online
Video of Phoebis Sennae pupating and emerging, on YouTube
Cloudless Sulphur, Butterflies and Moths of North America
Phoebis sennae on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site

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Phoebis sennae

Contents

Distribution

Habitat

Diet

Life cycle