''Pyrisitia nise'', the mimosa yellow, is a

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

Pieridae The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern regions of North America and Eurasia.DeVries P. J. in Levi ...

. It is found from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

north to the

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 ...

Gulf Coast and throughout central and southern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, northward to the

Tennessee Valley The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to north Alabama and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Car ...

. It is an occasional stray to central Texas and south-eastern

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 ...

and rarely to southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, southern

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

. The habitat consists of brushy woodland edges.Butterflies and Moths of North America
/ref> The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is . Both sexes are yellow. The upperside of the forewing has narrow black outer edges. Black margins of the hindwing are uncommon in males, but always absent in females. Adults are on wing from May to August in southern Florida, September to November in southern Texas and all year round in the tropics. Adults 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 ...

. The larvae feed on ''

Mimosa pudica ''Mimosa pudica'' (from la, pudica "shy, bashful or shrinking"; also called sensitive plant, sleepy plant, action plant, touch-me-not, shameplant) is a creeping annual or perennial flowering plant of the pea/legume family Fabaceae. It is often g ...

''.

Subspecies

The following

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are recognized: *''P. n. nise'' (Jamaica) *''P. n. stygma'' (Boisduval, 1836) (Peru, Ecuador) *''P. n. tenella'' (Boisduval, 1836) (Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Argentina, Paraguay) *''P. n. larae'' (Herrich-Schäffer, 1862) (Cuba) *''P. n. nelphe'' (R. Felder, 1869) (Mexico, Panama) *''P. n. floscula'' (Weeks, 1901) (Bolivia, Argentina, Peru)

References

nise Butterflies of North America Butterflies of Central America Butterflies of the Caribbean Pieridae of South America Butterflies of Cuba Butterflies of Jamaica Lepidoptera of Brazil Lepidoptera of Ecuador Fauna of the Amazon Arthropods of Argentina Invertebrates of Bolivia Butterflies described in 1775 Taxa named by Pieter Cramer {{Pieridae-stub