Diet

• Caterpillars feed on legumes (Fabaceae).

• Larvae feed on the leaves of their host plants and may rest among the foliage during the day.

• Adults visit a wide variety of flowers for nectar and may also gather at damp ground for dissolved minerals.

Range

• Pyrisitia proterpia ranges from Peru north through Mexico and Central America, with populations also occurring in the Greater Antilles.

• It is widespread in Mexico, including Guerrero, and occurs in the Zihua area.

Habitat

• It is associated with open and semi-open habitats, including tropical dry forest, scrub, grassland, pastures, forest edges, roadsides and disturbed vegetation.

• It is particularly well adapted to sunny areas where its leguminous host plants are abundant.

• In the Zihua area, it is likely around open scrub, roadsides, fields and forest margins.

Description

• A medium-sized sulphur with a wingspan of approximately 45–57 mm.

• The upper surface is bright orange, with males having black along the forewing costa, apex and outer margin; females generally have more extensive dark edging.

• The most distinctive feature is seasonal variation in the hindwings. The dry-season form develops short tail-like projections, while the wet-season form lacks these projections.

• The underside is yellow to orange-yellow with scattered darker markings and is generally less conspicuous than the upper surface.

• The dry-season form is reproductively inactive until the onset of the rainy season, when the population changes to the reproductive wet-season form.

• This seasonal difference is sufficiently pronounced that the two forms can initially appear to represent different species.