Dryadula phaetusa

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Amphiesmenoptera
Ordo: Lepidoptera
Subordo: Glossata
Cladus: Coelolepida
Cladus: Myoglossata
Cladus: Neolepidoptera
Infraordo: Heteroneura
Cladus: Eulepidoptera
Cladus: Ditrysia
Cladus: Apoditrysia
Cladus: Obtectomera
Superfamilia: Papilionoidea

Familia: Nymphalidae
Subfamilia: Heliconiinae
Tribus: Heliconiini
Genus: Dryadula
Species: Dryadula phaetusa
Name

Dryadula phaetusa (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms

Basionym: Papilio phaetusa Linnaeus, 1758

References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio Decima, Reformata. Tomus I. Holmiæ (Stockholm): impensis direct. Laurentii Salvii. 824 pp. DOI: 10.5962/bhl.title.542 BHL p. 478 BHL Reference page.

Links

funet.fi
ZooBank: 0B0E8304-DA12-4348-873A-BBA36BD6CC5B

Vernacular names
English: Banded Longwing

Dryadula is a monotypic genus of the butterfly family Nymphalidae. Its single species, Dryadula phaetusa, known as the banded orange heliconian, banded orange, or orange tiger, is native from Brazil to central Mexico, and in summer can be found rarely as far north as central Florida. Its wingspan ranges from 86 to 89 mm, and it is colored a bright orange with thick black stripes in males and a duller orange with fuzzier black stripes in females.

It feeds primarily on the nectar of flowers and on bird droppings; its caterpillar feeds on passion vines including Passiflora tetrastylis. It is generally found in lowland tropical fields and valleys.

This species is unpalatable to birds and belongs to the "orange" Batesian mimicry complex.[1]

Symbiosis

Prior to their mating season, males of this species congregate by the hundreds on patches of moist soil that contain mineral salts (mud-puddling). When they cannot find such deposits, the insects visit various animals to drink salty secretions from their skin and nostrils.[2]
Taxonomy

The genus Dryadula Michner, 1942, is monotypic; the type species is Papilio phaetusa Linnaeus, 1758 (Syst. Nat. 10 ed., 1: 478). The type locality, given as "Indiis", is supposed to refer to the West Indies or northern South America.
References

Pinheiro, Carlos E.G. (1996) Palatability and escaping ability in Neotropical butterflies: Tests with wild kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus, Tyrannidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 59(4):351–365. HTML abstract

Richard Milner. (1999) Natural History 108(7):84–85.

Dryadula phaetusa, Butterflies of North America, from the United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center.