Dryadula phaetusa

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Dryadula phaetusa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera (unranked) Rhopalocera Superfamily: Papilionoidea Family: Nymphalidae Subfamily: Heliconiinae Tribe: Heliconiini Subtribe: Heliconiiti Genus: Dryadula Michner, 1942 Species: D. phaetusa
Binomial name
Dryadula phaetusa (Linnaeus, 1758)

Dryadula phaetusa, also known as the Banded Orange Heliconian, Banded Orange, or Orange Tiger, is a species of butterfly (an insect). The sole representative of its genus, 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 (Pinheiro 1996).

[edit] Symbiosis

Photographer Luiz Claudio Marigo spotted this Dryadula phaetusa on a caiman's nose (caiman's mouth was slightly agape - the reptile's method of releasing excess heat)

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 (see the image on the left)^[1].

Dryadula phaetusa underside

[edit] 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 be northern South America.

[edit] References

• Pinheiro, Carlos E. G. (1996): Palatablility and escaping ability in Neotropical butterflies: tests with wild kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus, Tyrannidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 59(4): 351–365. HTML abstract

• Dryadula phaetusa, Butterflies of North America, from the United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center.

[edit] External links

• Minnesota Zoo's Butterfly Garden - features the Dryadula phaetusa butterfly.

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