Limenitis arthemis

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Nymphalidae

'The Nymphalidae are members of the Superfamily Papilionoidea, the true butterflies. Distributed worldwide, butterflies of this family are especially rich in the tropics. They are highly variable, and there are more species in this family than in any other. Adults vary in size from small to large, and their front legs are reduced, unable to be used for walking. Wing shape is also highly variable: some species have irregular margins (anglewings and commas), and others have long taillike projections (daggerwings). Browns, oranges, yellows, and blacks are frequent colors, while iridescent colors such as purples and blues are rare. Adults of some groups are the longest-lived butterflies, surviving 6-11 months. Adult feeding behavior depends on the species, where some groups primarily seek flower nectar while others only feed on sap flows , rotting fruit, dung, or animal carcasses. Males exhibit perching and patrolling behaviors when seeking mates. Egg-laying varies widely, as some species lay eggs in clustsers, others in columns, and others singly. Caterpillar appearance and behavior vary widely. Brushfoots overwinter as larvae or adults.

'[1]

Subfamily Limenitidinae

The Limenitidinae are members of the Family Nymphalidae. These admirals and relatives are found on most continents. Adults of most genera are characterized by their flap-and-glide flight. Caterpillar and chrysalis structure defines this group.[2]

Physical Description

Habitat

The White Admiral form is usually found in the north in deciduous broad-leaf or mixed evergreen forests dominated by aspen or birch. The Red-Spotted Purple form is usually found further south than the White Admiral, in deciduous or mixed forests, moist uplands , valley bottoms , and coastal plains .

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,145 meters (0 to 7,037 feet).[3]

Ecology: The Red-spotted Purple is a mimic of the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor), and hence gains protection from predacious birds. It is thought the red-spotted purple hybridizes with the white admiral butterfly to produce partially banded offspring. Many lepidopterists consider the two to be one species.

Biology

Diet

Caterpillar hosts: Leaves of many species of trees and shrubs including wild cherry (Prunus), aspen, poplar, cottonwood (Populus), oaks (Quercus), hawthorn (Crataegus), deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum), birch (Betula), willows (Salix), basswood (Tilia), and shadbush (Amelanchier). Adult food: Sap flows , rotting fruit, carrion , dung, and occasionally nectar from small white flowers including spiraea, privet, and viburnum. White Admirals also sip aphid honeydew.

Reproduction

Males perch 3 feet or more above the ground on trees and tall bushes and rarely patrol for females. Eggs are laid singly on tips of host plant leaves; caterpillars eat leaves. Third-stage caterpillars hibernate. Caterpillar is humped, cream-colored, with dark-colored saddle . Two conspicuous brushlike bristles behind the head . Willows, aspens, poplars, cherry, hawthorns, apples and hornbeams are host plants.

Behavior

Flight: Two broods from April-October.

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Similar Species

Members of the genus Limenitis

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 17 species and subspecies in this genus:

L. archippus (Viceroy) · L. archippus archippus (Viceroy) · L. archippus idaho (Idaho Viceroy) · L. archippus lahontani (Nevada Viceroy) · L. archippus obsoleta (Arizona Viceroy) · L. arthemis (Green Skipper) · L. arthemis arizonensis (Arizona Red-Spotted Purple) · L. arthemis arthemis (White Admiral) · L. arthemis astyanax (Astyanax Red-Spotted Purple) · L. arthemis rubrofasciata (White Admiral) · L. lorquini (Lorquin's Admiral) · L. lorquini pallidafacies (Lorquin's Admiral) · L. populi (Poplar Admiral) · L. weidemeyerii (Weidemeyer's Admiral) · L. weidemeyerii nevadae (Nevada Admiral) · L. weidemeyerii oberfoelli (Weidemeyer's Admiral) · L. weidermeyerii (Weidemeyer's Admiral)

More Info

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Further Reading

• ...Butterflies worth knowing, by Clarence M. Weed... illustrated by forty-eight plates, thirty-two in color. 1917 Garden City, New York, Doubleday, Page & company[c1917] url p. 206.
• A catalogue of the butterflies known to occur in Indiana / by W. S. Blatchley. S.l.: s.n., 1891? url p. 22, p. 23.
• A manual of North American butterflies by Charles J. Maynard. Boston: De Wolfe, Fiske, 1891. url , , .
• Agriculture of New York: comprising an account of the classification, composition and distribution of the soils and rocks. .. together with a condensed view of the climate and the agricultural productions of the state. Albany, C. Van Benthuysen, 1846-54. url p. 211.
• American entomology, or Descriptions of the insects of North America: illustrated by coloured figures from original drawings executed from nature / by Thomas Say. [Philadelphia]: S. A. Mitchell, for sale by A. Finley, 1824-28 url , .
• American entomology, or, Descriptions of the insects of North America: illustrated by coloured figures from original drawings executed from nature / by Thomas Say. [Philadelphia]: Published by Samuel Augustus Mitchell, for sale by Anthony Finley, corner of Fourth and Chesnut St., William Brown, printer, 1824-1828. url , .
• Annals of the Entomological Society of America. [College Park, Md., etc.]: Entomological Society of America. url p. 215, p. 238.
• Annotated checklist of the butterflies of Illinois [by] Roderick R. Irwin [and] John C. Downey. Urbana, Illinois Natural History Survey, 1973. url p. 25, p. 39.
• Annual report / Entomological Society of Ontario. Toronto, The Society. url p. 20, p. 44, p. 91.
• Annual report of the Entomologist of the State Experiment Station of the University of Minnesota, to the Governor for the year. .. Delano: Eagle Print. Co., -1902 url .
• Annual report of the New Jersey State Museum. Trenton, N.J.: MacCrellish & Quigley, url p. 412.
• Annual report of the New Jersey state museum. 1901-12, 1914. Trenton, New Jersey. [etc.]1902-15. url p. 412.
• Annual report of the Ohio State Academy of Science. Columbus: The Academy, 1893-1930. url p. 23.
• Annual report of the Quebec Society for the Protection of Plants from Insects and Fungous Diseases. Quebec: The Society, 1909-1920. url p. 14.
• Archives of science and transactions of the Orleans County Society of Natural Sciences. Newport, Vt.: J.M. Currier, [1870-1874] url p. 87.
• As nature shows them: moths and butterflies of the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains: with over 400 photographic illustrations in the text and many transfers of species from life / by Sherman F. Denton. Boston: J.B. Millet, c1900. url p. 9.
• Bibliographical catalogue of the described tranformations of North American Lepidoptera by Henry Edwards. Washington: G.P.O., 1889. url .
• Bibliography (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) / Charles A. Bridges. Urbana, Ill.: C.A. Bridges, c1993. url p. 126, p. 208, p. 26, p. 395, p. 398.
• Brief guide to the commoner butterflies of the northern United States and Canada; being an introduction to a knowledge of their life-histories, by Samuel Hubbard Scudder. New York, H. Holt and Company, 1893. url p. 98.
• Bulletin - New York State Museum. Albany: New York State Education Dept. url p. 502.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url p. 27.
• Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society. Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Society, url p. 90.
• Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 25 1898 New York: Torrey Botanical Club, 1870-1996 url p. 390.
• Bulletin. Salem, Mass. url p. 165.
• Butterflies and moths of Newfoundland and Labrador: the macrolepidoptera / [Ottawa]: Agriculture Canada, 1980. url p. 275, p. 314.
• Butterflies worth knowing / by Clarence M. Weed; illustrated by forty-eight plates, thirty-two in color. [Garden City, N.Y.]Pub. by Doubleday, Page & Company for Nelson Doubleday, 1923 [c1917] url p. 206, p. 284.
• Catalogue of scientific papers (1800-1900) Comp. by the Royal society of London. Cambridge, C. J. Clay and sons, 1867-1902; url p. 332.
• Catalogue of scientific papers, 1800-1900. Compiled by the Royal Society of London. London, C.J. Clay and Sons, 1867-1902 [etc.] Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1914-25. url p. 332.
• Charles Darwin and the Origin of species; addresses, etc., in America and England in the year of the two anniversaries, London, Longmans, Green, and co., 1909. url , , , , , , .
• Coleoptera of the state of New York. Albany: C. Van Benthuysen & Co., 1854 url p. 259.
• Darwin and modern science; essays in commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin and of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the Origin of species. Edited for the Cambridge Philosophical Society and CambridgeUniversity Press1910 url p. 294.
• Entomologica Americana. [Lawrence, Kan., etc.]New York Entomological Society [etc.] url p. 154, p. 154.
• Entomological news, and proceedings of the Entomological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia[Entomological Rooms of the Academy of Natural Sciences] url , p. 241, p. 245, p. 245, p. 280, p. 282, p. 331, p. 42, p. 5, p. 5, p. 72, p. 84.
• Entomological news. [Philadelphia]American Entomological Society, 1925- url p. 153, p. 93, p. 96.
• Fifth report of the United States Entomological Commission, being a revised and enlarged edition of Bulletin no. 7, on insects injurious to forest and shade trees. By Alpheus S. Packard. .. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1890. url p. 449, p. 480.
• Final report of the state geologist. Trenton, N.J.: The Survey, 1888- url p. 272.
• Final report. v. 1-8. Trenton, 1888-1917. url p. 272.
• Illustrations of diurnal Lepidoptera, with descriptions, by Andrew Gray Weeks, jr. Boston, Printed by the University Press, Cambridge, 1905-1911. url , .
• Insects of New Jersey; a list of the species occurring in New Jersey, with notes on those of economic importance, by John B. Smith. Trenton, N. J., MacCrellish & Quigley, state printers, 1900. url p. 372, p. 372.
• Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 15 1912 Philadelphia: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1817-1918. url p. 125.
• Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society. Oxford [etc.]Royal Microscopical Society. url p. 29.
• Memorial of life and entomologic work of Joseph Albert Lintner, state entomologist, 1874-98, by Ephraim Porter Felt. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1899. url p. 502.
• Mimicry in butterflies, Cambridge, University Press, 1915. url , , .
• Mimicry in butterflies, by Reginald Crundall Punnett. .. Cambridge, University press, 1915. url p. 47, p. 49.
• Mimicry in butterflies. CambridgeUniversity Press1915 url , p. 47, p. 49.
• Natural history. A manual of zoölogy for schools, colleges, and the general reader New York, Scribner & co., 1867 url p. 385.
• Nature in Acadie / London: John Bale, 1895. url .
• Nature in Acadie / by H.K. Swann. London: J. Bale & Sons, 1895. url p. 24.
• Occasional papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 1913- url p. 12, p. 5, p. 7.
• On a collection of butterflies. London, 1880-98 url p. 12.
• Proceedings and transactions of the South London Entomological & Natural History Society. London: The Society. url p. 109.
• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia url p. 189, p. 189, p. 195.
• Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Boston: Metcalf and Co., 1846-1958 url p. 260.
• Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. Washington, etc.: Entomological Society of Washington url p. 43, p. 484, p. 636, p. 643, p. 644, p. 645, p. 97.
• Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Sydney, Linnean Society of New South Wales. url p. 74.
• Psyche. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge Entomological Club url p. 254, p. 298, p. 580, p. 87.
• Report of the State Entomologist on the noxious and beneficial insects of the state of Illinois. [Springfield, Ill.?]: State Entomologist, [1876?]-1916. url p. 70, p. 71, p. 93.
• Report of the United States Entomological Commission. Washington, Govt. print. off., 1878-90. url p. 242, p. 448, p. 449, p. 480, p. 596.
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. 116 1952 Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. url p. 14, p. 143, p. 186, p. 229, p. 230, p. 237, p. 49, p. 50.
• The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany, and geology being a continuation of the Annals combined with Loudon and Charlesworth's Magazine of Natural History. London, Taylor and Francis, Ltd. url p. 12, p. 12.
• The Canadian entomologist. Ottawa [etc.]Entomological Society of Canada [etc.] url , , , , p. 104, p. 104, p. 11, p. 11, p. 162, p. 163, p. 165, p. 165, p. 195, p. 195, p. 208, p. 208, p. 212, p. 212, p. 224, p. 232, p. 237, p. 237, p. 239, p. 239, p. 239, p. 240, p. 243, p. 243, p. 243, p. 244, p. 244, p. 251, p. 259, p. 259, p. 272, p. 272, p. 299, p. 30, p. 311, p. 311, p. 313, p. 323, p. 345, p. 345, p. 348, p. 45, p. 5, p. 57, p. 57, p. 8, p. 8, p. 8, p. 83, p. 88, p. 88, p. 95, p. 95, p. 95.
• The Canadian field-naturalist. Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club. url p. 576.
• The Canadian naturalist and geologist. Montreal: B. Dawson, 1856-1868. url p. 245.
• The Canadian naturalist and quarterly journal of science: with proceedings of the Natural History Society of Montreal. Montreal: Dawson, 1869-1883. url p. 26.
• The Entomologist's record and journal of variation. s.l., s.n. url p. 118, p. 120.
• The Entomologist. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., [1877- url p. 98.
• The Hope reports. Oxford: Printed for private circulation, 1897-1958. url p. 447, p. 453, p. 471, p. 487.
• The Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History. Cincinnati: The Society, 1878/79 [i.e. 1878 or 1879]-1945. url p. 73.
• The Lepidopterists' news: the monthly newsletter of the Lepidopterists' Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Lepidopterists' Society, 1947-1958. url p. 48, p. 93, p. 94, p. 95, p. 99.
• The Macrolepidoptera of the world; a systematic description of the hitherto known Macrolepidoptera, ed. in collaboration with well-known specialists. Stuttgart: Seitz'schen (Kernen), 1906- url p. 534.
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• The butterflies of Maine. .. / C. H. Fernald. Augusta [Me.]: Sprague & Son, 1884. url p. 14.
• The butterflies of North America; second series William H. Edwards. Boston;Houghton, Mifflin, 1884. url .
• The butterflies of the eastern United States and Canada: with special reference to New England / By Samuel Hubbard Scudder. Cambridge: The author, 1889. url p. 294.
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Notes

Contributors

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 26, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from provider.
• LepIndex: The Global Lepidoptera Names Index
• Marlin, Bruce. CirrusImage.com.
• 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.
• The Global Lepidoptera Names Index2, 12.2, 2005.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 26, 2008:

• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, St. Johns, Newfoundland
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Atlantic Forestry Centre Insect Reference Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Butterflies and Skippers of Alberta Project
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Canadian National Collection (CNC) of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Crispin S. Guppy Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Donald F. Hooper Butterfly collection, Canada
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Jeff Ogden Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Lyman Entomological Museum
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Memorial University Department of Biology Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: New Brunswick Museum Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Norbert Kondla Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, Subenacadie, NS, Canada
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS, Canada
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Ross A. Layberry Observations
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Royal Ontario Museum: Entomology
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: University of New Brunswick Collection

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2766286
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Lep-160377.0
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 4490920
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 188603
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: IILEPL3010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 15058

Footnotes

1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=18&sci=Nymphalidae&com=Brush-footed Butterflies [back]
2. http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=None&search=Search [back]
3. Mean = 512.550 meters (1,681.594 feet), Standard Deviation = 522.640 based on 197 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.