''Texola elada'', the Elada checkerspot, is a species of

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the brush-footed butterfly family,

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species ha ...

. It is found from southern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

north to central

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and central

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

in the United States. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is . Adults are on wing from April to October. There are several generations per year. The larvae feed on ''

Siphonoglossa pilosella ''Justicia pilosella'' (syns. ''Siphonoglossa pilosella'' and ''Monechma pilosella''), the hairy tube-tongue, Gregg's tube tongue, or false honeysuckle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae. It is native to New Mexico, Texas, ...

'' in Texas. They have been recorded feeding on various yellow

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

species in Mexico. Adults feed on flower nectar.

Subspecies

*''Texola elada elada'' (Mexico) *''Texola elada ulrica'' (Texas) *''Texola elada perse'' (Arizona)

References

External links

* *
Bug Guide
Melitaeini Butterflies described in 1868 Butterflies of North America Taxa named by William Chapman Hewitson Lepidoptera of the United States Lepidoptera of Mexico {{Nymphalinae-stub