''Phoebis neocypris'', the tailed sulphur, 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 native to

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 ...

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

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 ...

.Tailed Sulphur
Learn about Butterflies There is a record for one stray in 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 ...

. The habitat consists of tropical areas, especially in mid-elevation forests as well as open and disturbed areas.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 . Males are orange and females are whitish or yellowish. Both have a triangular extension on each hindwing. Adults are on wing all year round in Mexico and Central America. They are on wing in September in southern Texas. They feed on flower nectar of various flowers, including '' Lantana'' and ''

Impatiens ''Impatiens'' is a genus of more than 1,000 species of flowering plants, widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and the tropics. Together with the genus ''Hydrocera'' (one species), ''Impatiens'' make up the family Balsaminaceae. ...

'' species. The larvae feed on fresh leaves of '' Cassia'' species.

Subspecies

The following subspecies are recognised: * ''Phoebis neocypris neocypris'' (Brazil) * ''Phoebis neocypris rurina'' C. & R. Felder, 1861 (Mexico to Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador) * ''Phoebis neocypris virgo'' (Butler, 1870) (Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica)

References

Coliadinae Butterflies of North America Butterflies of Central America Pieridae of South America Lepidoptera of Brazil Fauna of the Amazon Butterflies described in 1823 {{Pieridae-stub