''Asterocampa leilia'', the Empress Leilia, Leilia hackberry butterfly or desert hackberry, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.

Description

Adults are brownish orange, with white and black spots on the bottom of the wings. The length of the wings is 1.5 to 2 inches (38 to 51 mm).

Distribution

The species can be found in the south-western United States, including Arizona and Texas, as well as Mexico.

Ecology and habitat

Adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

s feed on

dung Dung most often refers to animal feces. Dung may also refer to: Science and technology * Dry animal dung fuel * Manure * Cow dung * Coprolite, fossilized feces * Dung beetle Art * Mundungus Fletcher or "Dung", a character in the Harry Potter n ...

, sap and rotten fruit. In very rare cases the species will feed on

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

. They live in

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

streamside In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the ter ...

s, thorn scrubs, and washes. Males of the species will wait near their food plants for females to appear. Larvae feed on hackberry.

References

Apaturinae Butterflies described in 1874 Butterflies of North America Taxa named by William Henry Edwards {{nymphalidae-stub