''Eurema proterpia'', the tailed orange, is a

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''no ...

and

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 souther ...

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

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 ...

Description

The upperside of the wings is orange with a variable amount of black along the forewing costa.Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman (2003). ''Butterflies of North America''. Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY. The wing veins are lightly marked with black in summer individuals, and winter individuals have no black veins. Males reflect

UV light Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation i ...

on their upper sides, and some females can be white.James A. Scott (1986). ''The Butterflies of North America''. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. The underside of the wings varies depending on the season. Summer individuals are yellow orange with the hindwing slightly pointed. Winter individuals are brown with darker brown markings with the hindwing being much more pointed. The wingspan measures to inches (32–44 mm).Bob Stewart, Priscilla Brodkin and Hank Brodkin (2001). ''Butterflies of Arizona''. West Coast Lady Press.

Similar species

The only similar species in the tailed orange's range is the sleepy orange (''

Eurema nicippe ''Eurema nicippe'', the sleepy orange, is a North American butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is also found in the West Indies, Costa Rica and Belize. Description The sleepy orange is a bright orange butterfly with the upperside of the win ...

''). The sleepy orange has a black forewing cell spot on the upperside, the upperside of the hindwing has a black marginal border, and the hindwing is not pointed.

Habitat

The tailed orange lives in a variety of open habitats such as open woodlands, deserts and subtropical habitats.

Flight

This species may be found from mid-July to early January in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

, from August to November in

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 ...

, and all year round in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Life cycle

Males patrol all day in search of females. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

is bright yellow green with a yellow lateral stripe.Thomas J. Allen, Jim P. Brock and Jeffrey Glassberg (2005). ''Caterpillars in the Field and Garden''. Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

Host plants

Host plants of the tailed orange include: * '' Cassia texana'' * ''

Chamaecrista ''Chamaecrista'' is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Members of the genus are commonly known as sensitive pea. Several species are capable of rapid plant movement. Unlike the related genera ...

'' species * ''

Desmodium ''Desmodium'' is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae, sometimes called tick-trefoil, tick clover, hitch hikers or beggar lice. There are dozens of species and the delimitation of the genus has shifted much over time. These are mostly ...

'' species * '' Prosopis reptans'' * '' Senna chamaecrista''

References

*F. Martin Brown and Bernard Heineman, ''Jamaica and its Butterflies'' (E. W. Classey, London 1972), plate VI {{Taxonbar, from=Q2496603 proterpia Butterflies of North America Butterflies of Central America Butterflies of the Caribbean Pieridae of South America Butterflies of Cuba Butterflies of Jamaica Lepidoptera of Brazil Lepidoptera of Colombia Lepidoptera of Ecuador Lepidoptera of Venezuela Fauna of the Amazon