Diet

• Adults: Feed primarily on flower nectar, with a preference for red and purple flowers. Recorded nectar plants include Hibiscus, Bougainvillea, Lantana, Cordia, Bidens and Ageratum.

• Caterpillars: Feed primarily on plants in the Fabaceae (legume family), particularly Cassia and Senna. Documented hosts include Cassia emarginata, Senna atomaria and Senna spectabilis.

• Larvae develop continuously during the wet season, when their host plants are actively producing new foliage.

Range

• Anteos maerula is a widespread Neotropical butterfly, occurring from Mexico through Central America and the Caribbean to northern and western South America, reaching Peru.

• It is primarily a tropical and subtropical species, although individuals occasionally wander far beyond the normal breeding range, including into parts of the southern United States.

• Around Zihua, Anteos maerula would likely be considered occasional to locally common, particularly in open areas with flowering plants and Senna or related legumes.

Habitat

• The Yellow Angled-Sulphur occurs in tropical dry forest, tropical wet forest, scrub, secondary growth, open woodland and other sunny habitats.

• Adults often fly high and rapidly, particularly around forest edges and open areas, and may visit flowers well above ground level.

• Around Zihua, suitable habitat includes tropical deciduous forest, forest edges, thorn scrub, dry hillsides, stream margins, gardens, roadside vegetation and areas of secondary growth.

Size

• Anteos maerula is a large sulphur butterfly, with a wingspan of approximately 82–117 mm.

• The male is generally bright yellow, while females are paler and can be almost white, with both sexes bearing a distinctive dark spot in the forewing cell.

• The forewing has a distinctive strongly pointed or hooked apex, giving the species its characteristic angled-wing appearance.

• The underside is more cryptic, with greenish-yellow coloration and markings that can make the resting butterfly resemble a leaf.