Overview
Interesting Facts
Common Names
Common Names in English:
Southwestern Orangetip
Description
Family Pieridae
'The Pieridae are members
of the Superfamily
Papilionoidea, the true butterflies. Worldwide in distribution, most species are found in the tropics. Adults
have medium to small wings
that are white, yellow, or orange, with some black or red, and many have hidden ultraviolet patterns
that are used in courtship
. Species with more than one generation usually have distinct
seasonal variation
in appearance
. Adults of all species visit flowers for nectar, and adults of both sexes have three pairs of walking legs
. Males patrol in search of receptive mates, and females lay
columnar
eggs
on leaves, buds, and stems. The majority of caterpillars of North American whites and sulphurs feed
on legumes or crucifers (members of the Mustard family
). Typically, temperate
species overwinter in the pupal or larval stage
, while tropical
species overwinter as adults.
'[1]
Subfamily Pierinae
Whites, marbles, and orangetips are members of the Family Pieridae. In North America, 31 species are included . Adults of most species are predominantly white above with some black pattern elements , and their hindwings often have a pattern of yellow and black scales that appear green. Sexes of most species are only slightly dimorphic , though male orangetips have bright orange wingtips. Nearly all adults are avid flower visitors. The males of almost all North American species patrol open, sunny habitats for females, although males of some tropical whites (e.g. Mexican Dartwhite) perch along ravines . Caterpillars of most western whites feed on mustards, though some use capers and others, pineneedles. All species overwinter in the chrysalis stage, and some orangetips and marbles may pass several unfavorable years in the chrysalis stage before hatching .[2]
Physical Description
Species Anthocharis thoosa
Male white, female either white or yellowish, especially on hindwing . Most similar to Sara Orangetip, but black bar on inner edge of orange tip very wide, and marbling nearly black. (ref. 105569)
Color:
Male white, female either white or yellowish, especially on hindwing . Most similar to Sara Orangetip, but black bar on inner edge of orange tip very wide, and marbling nearly black.
Size/Age/Growth
Wing span
: 1 - 1 ý inches (2.5-3.7 cm).
Wing span: 1 - 1 ½ inches (2.5-3.7 cm). (ref. 105569)
Habitat
Mainly juniper or pinyon-juniper woodland. Also desert hills .
Biology
Diet
Adult food: Flower nectar, including that of host mustards. (ref. 105569)
Reproduction
Plants in the mustard (Brassicaceae) family including tansy-mustard (Descurainia), hedge mustard (Sisymbrium) and rock cresses (Arabis) species.
Behavior
Flight: Late February through April.
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Animalia
()
- C. Linnaeus, 1758
- animals
- Subkingdom:
Bilateria
()
- (Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983
- Branch:
Protostomia
()
- Grobben, 1908
- Infrakingdom:
Ecdysozoa
()
- A.M.A. Aguinaldo et al., 1997 ex T. Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Superphylum:
Panarthropoda
()
- Cuvier
- Phylum:
Arthropoda
()
- Latreille, 1829
- Arthropods
- Subphylum:
Mandibulata
()
- Snodgrass, 1938
- Infraphylum:
Atelocerata
()
- Heymons, 1901
- Superclass:
Panhexapoda
()
- Epiclass:
Hexapoda
()
- Subclass:
Dicondylia
()
- Infraclass:
Pterygota
()
- Cohort:
Myoglossata
()
- Superorder:
Panorpida
()
- Order:
Lepidoptera
()
- C. Linnaeus, 1758
- Butterflies and Moths
- Infraorder:
Heteroneura
()
- Family:
Pieridae
()
- Whites and Yellows (Sulphurs)
- Subfamily:
Pierinae
()
- Whites
- Tribe:
Pierini
()
- Genus:
Anthocharis
()
- Boisduval et al., 1833
- Specific name:
thoosa
- (Scudder, 1878)
- Scientific name: - Anthocharis thoosa (Scudder, 1878)
- Specific name:
thoosa
- (Scudder, 1878)
- Genus:
Anthocharis
(
- Tribe:
Pierini
(
- Subfamily:
Pierinae
(
- Family:
Pieridae
(
- Infraorder:
Heteroneura
(
- Order:
Lepidoptera
(
- Superorder:
Panorpida
(
- Cohort:
Myoglossata
(
- Infraclass:
Pterygota
(
- Subclass:
Dicondylia
(
- Epiclass:
Hexapoda
(
- Superclass:
Panhexapoda
(
- Infraphylum:
Atelocerata
(
- Subphylum:
Mandibulata
(
- Phylum:
Arthropoda
(
- Superphylum:
Panarthropoda
(
- Infrakingdom:
Ecdysozoa
(
- Branch:
Protostomia
(
- Subkingdom:
Bilateria
(
- Kingdom:
Animalia
(
Notes
Name
Status: Accepted Name
.
Last scrutiny: 08-Feb-2007
Similar Species
Members of the genus Anthocharis
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 19 species and subspecies in this genus:
A. belia (Morocco Orange Tip) · A. belia belia (Morocco Orange Tip) · A. cardamines (Orange Tip) · A. cardamines cardamines (Orange Tip) · A. cethura (Desert Orangetip) · A. cethura catalina (Catalina Orange Tip) · A. cethura cethura (Felder's Orange Tip) · A. damone (Eastern Orange Tip) · A. euphenoides (Provence Orange-Tip) · A. julia (Southern Rocky Mountain Orangetip) · A. lanceolata (Gray Marble) · A. lanceolata desertolimbus (Gray Marble) · A. midea (Falcate Orangetip) · A. midea annickae (Falcate Orangetip) · A. sara (Pacific Orangetip) · A. sara alaskensis (Alaskan Orange Tip) · A. stella (Stella Orangetip) · A. stella browningi (Browning's Orange Tip) · A. thoosa (Southwestern Orangetip)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- A manual of North American butterflies / by Charles J. Maynard. Illustrated with ten hand-colored plates, and many wood-cuts. 1891 Boston: De Wolfe, Fiske & Co., 1891. url p. 28.
- Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. New YorkAmerican Museum of Natural History1881- url p. 238, p. 239.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 15, 2012.
- GloBIS (GART): Global Butterfly Information System. Release date: November 23, 2008
- LepIndex: The Global Lepidoptera Names Index
- Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Mountain Prairie Information Node. March 26, 2007.
- Opler, Paul A., Kelly Lotts, and Thomas Naberhaus, coordinators. 2009. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Big Sky Institute. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ (Version of April 17, 2009).
- Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 7697833
- Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Gar-1010
- Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: IILEPA6090
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 172612
