Diet

• Adults feed primarily on flower nectar and are frequent visitors to a variety of small flowering plants.

• The caterpillars feed on plants in the acanthus family (Acanthaceae). Young caterpillars are strongly gregarious, often feeding together in groups on the undersides of leaves.

• The larvae are spiny and occur in both dark and reddish colour forms.

Range

• Chlosyne janais janais is the widespread form of the Crimson Patch, occurring from Mexico through Central America to Colombia, with the species extending northward into southern Texas.

• It is an occasional to locally common butterfly in the Zihua area, particularly where flowering vegetation and suitable Acanthaceae grow along forest edges and streams.

Habitat

• It favors tropical and subtropical forest edges, woodland clearings, fields, stream margins, and other sunny openings.

• It readily occupies disturbed habitats where flowering plants and its shrubby larval hosts are available.

• Adults are often conspicuous as they fly rapidly through open areas, frequently settling on foliage before making short flights.

Description

• A striking medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan of approximately 48–67 mm.

• The wings are predominantly black, with numerous small white spots scattered across the forewings and along the outer margins.

• Each hindwing has a large, vivid orange-red patch occupying much of the basal and central area. This brilliant red-orange patch against the black wings is the species' most distinctive feature.

• Beneath, the hindwings are more complex, with an orange-red postmedian band and yellowish areas toward the base. The red band does not extend all the way to the wing margins.

• The combination of black wings, white spotting, and brilliant crimson hindwing patches makes the Crimson Patch one of the easiest Chlosyne species to recognize in the field.