''Euptoieta hegesia'', the Mexican fritillary, is a

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

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 ...

in the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

Description

The upperside of the wings is bright orange with the basal part of the hindwing unmarked. There is a row of submarginal black spots on both the forewing and the hindwing. The underside of the wings is yellow orange with no submarginal black spots.Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman (2003). ''Butterflies of North America''. Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY. It has a wingspan of 2.5 to 3 inches.Bob Stewart, Priscilla Brodkin and Hank Brodkin (2001). ''Butterflies of Arizona''. West Coast Lady Press, Arcata, CA.

Similar species

The only similar species in the Mexican fritillary's range is the variegated fritillary (''

Euptoieta claudia ''Euptoieta claudia'', the variegated fritillary, is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Even though the variegated fritillary has some very different characteristics from the ''Speyeria'' fritillaries, it is still cl ...

''). The variegated fritillary has black median lines on the upperside of the hindwing, and on the underside of the hindwing it has a pale postmedian band.

Flight

The Mexican fritillary may be seen from mid-June to November in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, from July to December in

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 ...

and year-round in

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 ...

.James A. Scott (1986). ''The Butterflies of North America''. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.

Habitat

This species may be encountered in a wide range of open habitats and gardens.

Life cycle

The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

is shiny red, with middorsal silver spots edged with black. It has a subdorsal row of white spots ringed with black, a spiracular silver line with black edges, and six rows of black spines. The red head has two long black spines with clubbed ends. The

chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

is dark brown or rarely tan, with gold eyes and short gold lateral and subdorsal cones. On the wing cases, it has a black marking shaped like a "T". It has one to three

brood Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American Periodical Cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest bro ...

s per year.

Host plants

Here is a list of host plants used by the Mexican fritillary: *Foetid passionflower, ''

Passiflora foetida ''Passiflora foetida'' (common names: stinking passionflower, wild maracuja, bush passion fruit, wild water lemon, stoneflower, love-in-a-mist, or running pop) is a species of passion flower that is native to the southwestern United States (south ...

'' *Yellow alder, ''

Turnera ulmifolia ''Turnera ulmifolia'', the ramgoat dashalong or yellow alder, is a species of plant of family Passifloraceae, native to Mexico and the West Indies. A recent study found that yellow alder potentiated the antibiotic activity against methicillin-res ...

'' (used in Mexico and in the

Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

) *'' Ipomoea maritima'' (used in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

) *Damiana, ''

Turnera diffusa ''Turnera diffusa'', known as damiana, is a shrub native to southern Texas in the United States, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean. It belongs to the family Passifloraceae. Damiana is a relatively small, woody shrub tha ...

References

links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Euptoieta Hegesia Butterflies of North America Argynnini Butterflies described in 1779 Nymphalidae of South America Taxa named by Pieter Cramer