''Chlosyne janais'', the crimson patch or janais patch, is a common

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

found from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

north through

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to southern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, with occasional sightings in southeastern Mexico and northern Texas. The dorsal and ventral wing surface is black with several undulating rows of small white spots on the medial forewings and along all outer wing margins. On each dorsal hindwing is a medial orange-red patch situated anteriorly. The ventral hindwings have a fragmented yellow proximal patch bordered by a thick postmedial band of red that does not reach the wing margins; maximum wingspan is 4.8–6.7 cm. Crimson Patch 6

Crimson Patch (Chlosyne janais) (52361392367)

Adults inhabit the periphery of lowland tropical to subtropical forests, fields, and along streams, where they feed on flower

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 ...

. Reproduction is continuous in the tropics, whereas in temperate areas several broods are produced from July to November. The caterpillars are grey white to green with several transverse rows of fleshly black spines; they feed primarily on acanthus shrubs, especially '' Anisacanthus wrightii'' and '' Odontonema callistachus'' (in Texas), upon which adult females lay their eggs. The crimson patch can reach high numbers in the

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...

, but the population is periodically killed off by cold snaps; the area is then recolonized by members of the Mexican population. A very similar species is the rosita patch (''C. rosita''), which is distinguished from the crimson patch by the former's lack of spots on the wing margins.

References

*USGS. Butterflies of North America—''Chlosyne janais''. Retrieved September 27, 2005 from https://web.archive.org/web/20051102063936/http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/157.htm *eNature.com. FieldGuides: Crimson Patch. Retrieved September 27, 2005 from https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083020/http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?allSpecies=y&searchText=Janais%20Patch&curGroupID=2&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=1 {{Taxonbar, from=Q2136588 janais Nymphalidae of South America Butterflies of North America Taxa named by Dru Drury Butterflies described in 1782