Dryas julia
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- This article is about the Julia butterfly. For Julia "Butterfly" Hill, see Julia Butterfly Hill.
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| Dryas julia (Fabricius, 1775) |
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Dryas julia (a common lapsus) |
Dryas julia (also spelled iulia), commonly called the Julia butterfly or Julia Heliconian, is a species of butterfly (an insect). The sole representative of its genus, the Julia is native from Brazil to southern Texas and Florida, and in summer can sometimes be found as far north as eastern Nebraska. Over 15 subspecies have been described.
Its wingspan ranges from 82 to 92 mm, and it is colored orange (brighter in male specimens) with black markings; this species is somewhat unpalatable to birds and belongs to the "orange" Batesian mimic complex (Pinheiro 1996).
It feeds on the nectar of flowers including lantana and shepherd's needle (Scandix pecten-veneris), and its caterpillars form hosts in passion vines including Passiflora affinis and Passiflora lutea (the yellow passionvine) in Texas. The Julia is a fast flier and frequents clearings, paths, and margins of forests and woodlands.
[edit] References
- Butterflies of North America (undated): Dryas julia
- Miller, L. D. & Miller, J. Y. (2004): The Butterfly Handbook: 115. Barron's Educational Series, Inc.; Hauppauge, New York. ISBN 0-7641-5714-0
- Pinheiro, Carlos E. G. (1996): Palatablility and escaping ability in Neotropical butterflies: tests with wild kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus, Tyrannidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 59(4): 351–365. HTML abstract
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