Limenitis arthemis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Limenitis arthemis

Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax)

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
(unranked)	Rhopalocera
Superfamily:	Papilionoidea
Family:	Nymphalidae
Subfamily:	Limenitidinae
Genus:	Limenitis
Species:	L. arthemis

Binomial name

Limenitis arthemis
(Drury, 1773)

Synonyms

Basilarchia arthemis

Limenitis arthemis is a North American brush-footed butterfly, common throughout much of the eastern United States. It has red spots on its underwing. The top of the wings are notable for their iridescent blue markings.

1 Subspecies
2 Ecology
3 Etymology
4 References
5 Footnotes
6 External links

[edit] Subspecies

Limenitis arthemis arthemis - (American) White Admiral (see also Limenitis camilla).
Limenitis arthemis rubrofasciata - Western (American) White Admiral, characterised by the absence of blue spots on its inferior wings.
Limenitis arthemis astyanax and Limenitis arthemis arizonensis - Red-spotted Purple or Red-spotted Admiral, both characterised by the absence of white bands on their wings.

The White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis arthemis) is, since a poll in October 1998, the (unofficial) insect emblem of the province of Québec, Canada. (See Quebec symbols and emblems for further details). It is the only sub-species of Limenitis arthemis present in Quebec.

The Red-spotted Purple is a mimic of the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) and is typically found in open woodlands and along forest edges.

White Admiral in Southern Maine.

Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax), Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Two White Admiral butterflies (Limenitis arthemis arthemis), New Brunswick, Canada.

White Admiral in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

[edit] Ecology

Preferred host plants: birches, including Betula lenta; Salicaceae, including Salix bebbiana and Populus tremuloides, and Prunus virginiana (Rosaceae).

Also but not as often: Crataegus, Amelanchier, Malus pumila, Prunus pensylvanica and Prunus serotina (Rosaceae), Populus deltoides, P. grandidentata and P. balsamifera (Salicaceae), Alnus rugosa, Betula alleghaniensis and Carpinus caroliniana (Betulaceae), Ulmus americana (Ulmaceae), Tilia americana (Malvaceae) and Fagus grandifolia (Fagaceae).

Adults are diurnal, they fly from the morning until soon after dusk (Fullard & Napoleone 2001).

[edit] Etymology

Limenitis (New Latin "of harbours", from Ancient Greek Λιμενιτις (from λιμήν, a harbour, haven) - an epithet of Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the wild. arthemis, from Artemis.^[1]

[edit] References

Fullard, James H. & Napoleone, Nadia (2001): Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera. Animal Behaviour 62(2): 349–368. doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1753 PDF fulltext