Diet

• Adults feed on nectar from a wide variety of flowering plants.

• The caterpillars feed primarily on plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae).

• Females lay clusters of eggs on the undersides of leaves. Young caterpillars feed together, becoming solitary as they mature.

Range

• The Bordered Patch has an exceptionally broad range extending from the southwestern United States through Mexico and Central America to northern Argentina.

• In the Zihua area, it can be encountered occasionally, particularly in open, disturbed areas where sunflowers and other Asteraceae are abundant.

Habitat

• It occupies a remarkably wide variety of habitats, including tropical deciduous forest, thorn woodland, forest edges, fields, roadsides, weedy areas, stream margins, and other open or disturbed ground.

• In tropical regions it is particularly associated with secondary vegetation and sunny clearings where larval food plants are abundant.

• Males often perch conspicuously on vegetation or patrol around areas containing host plants.

Description

• A medium-sized and highly variable butterfly with a wingspan of approximately 35–51 mm.

• The basic pattern consists of black wings crossed by a broad orange, yellow-orange, cream, or whitish median band, accompanied by smaller pale or orange spots toward the outer portions of the wings.

• The hindwing pattern is especially variable. Some individuals have a broad orange-red or yellow-orange area, while others have much more extensive black and pale markings.

• The underside is similarly variable but generally has a dark ground color with cream or yellow median bands, pale marginal spots, and orange-red markings.

• This extreme variation can make individuals appear surprisingly different from one another, but the combination of a broad median band and strongly checkered black-and-pale pattern is characteristic.

• The species can sometimes resemble other Chlosyne, particularly where its orange coloration is strongly developed.