''Phoebis sennae'', the cloudless sulphur, is a mid-sized

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 ...

found in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. There are several similar species such as the yellow angled-sulphur (''

Anteos maerula ''Anteos maerula'', the angled sulphur or yellow angled-sulphur, is a butterfly of the family Pieridae. It is found from Peru to Mexico. Rarely, migrants can be found up to eastern Nebraska, south-eastern Arizona, south-western New Mexico, sout ...

''), which has angled wings, statira sulphur (''

Aphrissa statira ''Aphrissa statira'', the statira sulphur, is a species of Lepidoptera in the family ''Pieridae''. The species is a medium-sized yellow butterfly, with females more pale than males. They are found from southern regions of Florida and Texas throug ...

), and'' other sulphurs, which are much smaller.

Distribution

Their range is wide, from

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 ...

to southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, in particular southwestern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

.Cloudless Sulphur
Butterflies of Canada They are most common 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 ...

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 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, and

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 ...

, but are often visitors outside this range becoming more rare further north.

Habitat

The common habitats of this butterfly are open spaces, gardens, glades, seashores, and watercourses.

Diet

The adult butterfly feeds 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 ...

from many different flowers with long tubes including

cordia ''Cordia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains about 300 species of shrubs and trees, that are found worldwide, mostly in warmer regions. Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while ''bocote' ...

bougainvillea ''Bougainvillea'' ( , ) is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees belonging to the four o' clock family, Nyctaginaceae. It is native to eastern South America, found from Brazil, west to Peru, and south to southern Argentina. ...

cardinal flower ''Lobelia cardinalis'', the cardinal flower ( syn. ''L. fulgens''), is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae native to the Americas, from southeastern Canada south through the eastern and southwestern United States ...

hibiscus ''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...

lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in ...

, and wild

morning glory Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...

. The larvae also feed on sennas and partridge peas. ''Senna hebecarpa'' (American senna) is a larval host and nectar source for the cloudless sulphur butterfly in the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

.Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Information Network: ''Senna hebecarpa''
/ref>

Life cycle

The breeding season is dependent on the climate of the area, from midsummer to fall in the cooler areas, to year-round where the climate is warmer.

Egg

The cloudless sulphur starts off as a pitcher-shaped white

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

. Eventually it will turn to a pale orange. The egg stage lasts six days.

Caterpillar

Once the egg hatches, a

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

emerges that is yellow to greenish, striped on sides, with black dots in rows across the back. The host plant may be

partridge pea ''Chamaecrista fasciculata'', the partridge pea, is a species of legume native to most of the eastern United States. It is an annual which grows to approximately 0.5 meters tall. It has bright yellow flowers from early summer until first frost ...

(''Chamaecrista cinerea''), sennas (''Senna''),

clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

s (''Trifolium''), or other

legumes A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock fo ...

(''Fabaceae''). The caterpillar will usually grow to a length between .

Chrysalis

The caterpillar will form a chrysalis that is pointed at both ends and humped in the middle. The chrysalis will be either yellow or green with pink or green stripes. From the chrysalis comes a medium-sized butterfly () with fairly elongated but not angled wings.

Adult

The male butterfly is clear yellow above and yellow or mottled with reddish brown below and the female is lemon yellow to golden or white on both surfaces, with varying amounts of black spotting along the margin and a black open square or star on the bottom forewing. Wingspan: . Female Cloudless Sulphur Megan McCarty11.jpg, Female Male Cloudless Sulphur, Megan McCarty97.jpg, Male Phoebis sennae.JPG,

Monsanto Insectarium The Bayer Insectarium is an insectarium located within the Saint Louis Zoo in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Having opened in 2000 and designed by David Mason & Associates with a cost of $4 million, this facility houses educational exhibits ...

St. Louis Zoo The Saint Louis Zoo, officially known as the Saint Louis Zoological Park, is a zoo in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri. It is recognized as a leading zoo in animal management, research, conservation, and education. The zoo is accredited by the A ...

Phoebis sennae caterpillar.jpg, Caterpillar Cloudless sulphur catirpillar. Phoebis sennae..jpg, Yellow version of caterpillar feeding on senna tree,

Vista, California Vista (; Spanish for "view") is a city in San Diego County, California. Vista is a medium-sized city within the San Diego-Carlsbad, CA Metropolitan Area and has a population of 101,638. Vista's sphere of influence also includes portions of un ...

Cloudless sulphur chrysalis. Phoebis sennae..jpg, Chrysalis on senna tree, Vista, California Cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae marcellina) male.JPG, Male ''P. s. marcellina''
in the

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and p ...

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 ...

Cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae marcellina).jpg, Male ''P. s. marcellina''
in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, some males are unmarked

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:''Phoebis sennae''
funet.fi *''P. s. amphitrite'' (Feisthamel, 1839) – Chile *''P. s. sennae'' or ''P. s. eubule'' – Jamaica, South Carolina, Kansas, Virginia, Florida, Cuba *''P. s. marcellina'' (Cramer,

779 __NOTOC__ Year 779 ( DCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 779 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Eur ...

– Mexico, Uruguay, Galapagos, Suriname, Honduras, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru

References

External links

Cloudless Sulphur
Butterflies of North Carolina Online
Video of Phoebis Sennae pupating and emerging
on YouTube
Cloudless Sulphur
Butterflies and Moths of North America

on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site {{Taxonbar, from=Q2710909 Coliadinae Butterflies of North America Butterflies of Central America Butterflies of the Caribbean Pieridae of South America Insects of the Dominican Republic Butterflies of Cuba Butterflies of Jamaica Lepidoptera of Brazil Fauna of the Amazon Butterflies described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus