Lyside Sulphur

Lyside sulphur is perhaps the second most common butterfly in the Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley (after the American snout). This year in the Central Texas Region, I have seen a huge number of them. They have been usually nectaring on pentas, different types of salvia, pyramid bushes and sulfur cosmos. It is smaller than the cloudless sulphur and has a distinctive bulging vein in the middle of the hindwing. Its caterpillar is up to to 3/4" in length, It is a dull green with silvery or black stripes edged in brown with its chrysalis being a bluish gray with white bloom.

Wing span: 1 1/2 - 2 3/8 inches (3.8 - 6 cm).

Identification: Tip of forewing square-shaped. Upperside forewing of male white with yellow basal area; often with vertical black bar at wing edge. Underside of hindwing has raised veins and satin sheen. Females occur in both yellow and white forms. Both sexes are extremely variable.

Life history: Caterpillars hide in bark crevices during the day, and come out to feed at night. Adults periodically make huge migrations.

Flight: Throughout the year in South Texas, April-August in Florida and to the north and east.

Caterpillar hosts: Plants in the Zygophyllaceae family: Lignum vitae (Guaiacum sanctum) in southern Florida and Porliera angustifolia in Texas.

Adult food: Flowe... read morers of black mangrove and shepherd's needle have been used as nectar sources in southern Florida.

Habitat: Tropical scrub lowlands and seasonally dry forests.

Range: Venezuela north to southern Texas, where it occurs in great numbers. Rare in southern Florida; strays to Colorado, Nebraska, Kentucky, and other states.