Dryadula phaetusa
| Banded Orange Heliconian | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Dorsal view | |
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| Ventral view | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Tribe: | Heliconiini |
| Genus: | Dryadula Michner, 1942 |
| Species: | D. phaetusa |
| Binomial name | |
| Dryadula phaetusa (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
The Dryadula is a monotypic genus of the butterfly family Nymphalidae. Its single species is the Dryadula phaetusa, known as the Banded Orange Heliconian, Banded Orange, or Orange Tiger. The Banded Orange Heliconian is native from Brazil to central Mexico, and in summer it can be found rarely as far north as central Kansas. Its wingspan ranges from 86 to 89 mm, and it is colored a bright orange with thick black stripes in males, and a duller orange with fuzzier black stripes in females.
It feeds primarily on the nectar of flowers and bird droppings, and its caterpillar feeds on passion vines including Passiflora tetrastylis. It is generally found in lowland tropical fields and valleys.
This species is somewhat unpalatable to birds and belongs to the "orange" Batesian mimicry complex.[1]
Symbiosis
Prior to their mating season, males of this species congregate by the hundreds on patches of moist soil that contain mineral salts. When they cannot find such deposits, the insects visit various animals to drink salty secretions from their skin and nostrils.[2]
Taxonomy
The genus Dryadula Michner, 1942, is monotypic, and the type species is Papilio phaetusa Linnaeus, 1758 (Syst. Nat. 10 ed., 1: 478). The type locality, given as "Indiis", is supposed to refer to the West Indies or northern South America.
References
- ↑ Pinheiro, Carlos E.G. (1996) Palatability and escaping ability in Neotropical butterflies: Tests with wild kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus, Tyrannidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 59(4):351–365. HTML abstract
- ↑ Richard Milner. (1999) Natural History 108(7):84–85.
- Dryadula phaetusa, Butterflies of North America, from the United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center.
External links
- Minnesota Zoo's Butterfly Garden – features the Dryadula phaetusa butterfly.