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Large Orange Sulphur
Anne Toal, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Butterflies & moths

Large Orange Sulphur

Phoebis agarithe (Boisduval, 1836)

Names

EnglishLarge Orange Sulphur
Dutch—
SpanishMariposa azufre gigante
Chinese橙菲粉蝶
Sranan Tongokapelka (general name for the group)
Scientific namePhoebis agarithe (Boisduval, 1836)

About this species

Phoebis agarithe, the large orange sulphur, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found from Peru north to southern Texas and peninsular Florida. Rare strays can be found up to Colorado, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. The species has also been introduced in Hawaii. The habitat consists of open, tropical lowlands including gardens, pastures, road edges, trails and parks.

The wingspan is 57–86 mm (2.2–3.4 in). Adults are on wing from August to September in southern Texas and all year round in the tropics. They feed on flower nectar, favoring lantana, shepherd's needle, bougainvillea, rose periwinkle, Turk's cap and hibiscus.

The larvae feed on fresh leaves of Pithecellobium and Inga species.

Read more on Wikipedia · Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Classification

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyPieridae
GenusPhoebis

Related species in Suriname