Sleepy Orange Large Orange Sulphur Queen Monarch (Abaeis nicippe) (Phoebis agarithe) (Danaus gilippus) (Danaus plexippus) Wingspan: 1 3/8” to 2 ¼” Wingspan: 2 ¼” to 3 3/8” Wingspan: 2 5/8” to 3 7/8” Wingspan: 3 3/8” to 4 7/8” Food: cassia species Food: Texas ebony, Food: milkweed species Food: milkweed species Nectar: various flowers feather tree Nectar: milkweeds, Nectar: milkweed Nectar: bougainvillea, frogfruit species, composites hibiscus, lantana Gulf Fritillary Cloudless Sulphur (Agraulis vanillae) (Phoebis sennae) Wingspan: 2 ½” to 3 ¾” Wingspan: 2 ¼” to 3 1/8” Empress Leilia Orange Sulphur Food: Passilfora Food: cassia species, (Asterocampa leilia) (Colias eurytheme) (Passionflower) desert senna Wingspan: 1 ½” to 3” Wingspan: 1 3/8” to 2¾” Nectar: composites, Nectar: bougainvillea, Food: desert Food: Pea family, clover lantana desert senna, hibiscus, hackberry Nectar: milkweed, aster, lantana Nectar: sap, dung, goldenrod some nectar Texan Crescent (Anthanassa texana) Wingspan: 1 ¼” to 1 7/8” Tailed Orange Food: jacobina, ruellia, Variegated Fritillary (Pyrisitia proterpia) frogfruit (Euptoieta Claudia) Mexican Yellow Wingspan: 1 ¾” to 2 ¼” Nectar: betony, Wingspan: 1 ¾” to 3 1/8” (Eurema Mexicana) Food: mesquite, cassia dicliptera, frogfruit Food: Passiflora Wingspan: 1 ¾” to 2 ½” species (passionflower) Food: fern acacia, cassia Nectar: various flowers Nectar: aster, fleabane, species milkweed, thistle Nectar: cassia and acacia species Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia) Wingspan: 1 3/8” to 2” Southern Dogface Food: Sunflower family, (Zerene cesonia) ragweed Dainty Sulphur Wingspan: 2 1/8” to 3” Nectar: various flowers Mexican Fritillary (Nathalis iole) Food: alfalfa, Baja fairy (Euptoieta hegesia) Wingspan: ¾” to 1 ¼” duster, dalea Wingspan: 2 ½” to 3” Food: Dyssodia, Nectar: coreopsis, Food: morning glory, sneezeweed, Tagetes verbena Passiflora (passionflower) Nectar: asters, marigold, Nectar: lantana rabbitbrush Pollinators | Art | Urban Agriculture | Society | and the Environment Common Buckeye West Coast Lady Palmer’s Metalmark Fiery Skipper (Junonia coenia) (Vanessa annabella) (Apodemia palmeri) (Hylephila phyleus) Wingspan: 1 5/8” to 2¾” Wingspan: 1½” to 2¼” Wingspan: ¾” to 1 1/8” Wingspan: 1¼” to 1½” Food: toadflax, ruellia, Food: Mallow family Food: honey and Food: Bermuda and other Snapdragon family Nectar: various flowers screwbean mesquite grasses Nectar: aster, chickory, Nectar: honey and Nectar: milkweed, aster, peppermint screwbean mesquite thistle Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) American Snout Wingspan: 2”to 2 7/8” Eufala Skipper (Libytheana carineta) Food: legumes, mallow, (Lerodea eufala) Wingspan: 1 3/8” to 2” thistle Wingspan: 1” to 1 ¼” Food: desert and western Nectar: aster, milkweed, Food: Bermuda and hackberry thistle Johnson grass Nectar: aster, black-eyed Fatal Metalmark Nectar: alfalfa, Susan, goldenrod (Calephelis nemesis) composites Wingspan: ¾” to 1” Food: brittlebush, seepwillow Nectar: brittlebush Tiny Checkerspot (Dymasia dymas) White Checkered- Wingspan: 7/8” to 1 3/8” Skipper Food: Acanthus family (Pyrgus albescens) Nectar: various flowers Cabbage White Wingspan: 1” to 1 ½” American Lady (Pieris rapae) Food: globemallow, (Vanessa virginiensis) Wingspan: 1¾” to 2¼” desert ironwood Wingspan: 1 ¾” to 2 5/8” Food: Mustard family Nectar: knapweed, Food: Artemisia, Nectar: mustard, red clover, sunflower clover, aster, mint sweetbush Nectar: marigold, Elada Checkerspot milkweed, verbena (Texola elada) Arizona Powdered Skipper Wingspan: 7/8” to 1¼” (Systasea zampa) Food: yellow composites Wingspan: 1 to 1 ½” Nectar: various flowers Food: Mallow family Nectar: various flowers Checkered White (Pontia protodice) Wingspan: 1 ½” to 2 ½” Red Admiral Food: mustard family (Vanessa atalanta) including cabbage Funereal Duskywing Wingspan: 1¾” to 3” Nectar: mustards and (Erynnis funeralis) Food: Nettle family composites Wingspan: 1 ¼” to 1 ¾” Nectar: tree sap, Food: deerweed, rotting fruit, desert ironwood bird droppings Nectar: Mexican oregano, wolfberry Mourning Cloak Western Pygmy-Blue Marine Blue Based on several years’ observations, here is a list (Nymphalis antiopa) (Brephidium exilis) (Leptotes marina) of butterfly species you are most likely to see in Wingspan: 2¼” to 4” Wingspan: ½” to ¾” Wingspan: 7/8” to 1 1/8” the gardens and when: Food: willow, cotton- world’s smallest Food: Astragalus, kidney- wood, hackberry Food: saltbush wood, legumes, mesquite Nectar: oak sap, Nectar: fourwing Nectar: alfalfa, kidney- QUEEN — common all year rotting fruit saltbush, goldenrod wood, plumbago Noxious chemicals in the milkweeds that feed both adults and caterpillars make the butterflies and their young distasteful and help deter potential predators. Pipevine Swallowtail GULF FRITILLARY — common all year (Battus philenor) The Gulf is one of the “longwing” butterflies, having Wingspan: 2 ¾” to 5” long, narrow wings as compared to other butterflies. Food: Aristolochia (pipevine) PIPEVINE SWALLOWTAIL — common all year Nectar: lantana, lupine, Spring ‘Echo’ Azure thistle, verbena (Celastrina ladon echo) At rest, these distinctive butterflies rhythmically open Wingspan: ¾” to 1¼” and close their wings, fluttering them when feeding. Food: includes Great Purple elderberry Hairstreak MARINE BLUE — common spring to fall Nectar: various (Atlides halesus) Caterpillars at rest on Velvet Mesquite resemble a flowers, buckwheat Wingspan: 1¼” to 2” mesquite leaf. Food: mistletoe Nectar: goldenrod, TEXAN CRESCENT — common spring to fall sweet pepperbush, Caterpillars feed en masse, laying trails of silk threads wild plum to anchor themselves to the plant and guide their sib- Giant Swallowtail lings. (Papilio cresphontes) Wingspan: 4” to 6 ¼” Food: citrus SLEEPY ORANGE — common spring to fall It may have gotten its name from the black spot on Nectar: bougainvillea, Reakirt’s Blue lantana (Echinargus isola) Leda Ministreak each forewing that resembles a closed eye. Wingspan: ¾” to 1 1/8” (Ministrymon leda) Food: Astragulus, dalea, Wingspan: ¾” to 7/8” CLOUDLESS SULPHUR — common spring to fall mesquite Food: mesquite This Sulphur is taken from Phoebe (Phoebis), one of Nectar: rabbitbrush Nectar: beebush, the oracles at Delphi, and the genus Senna (sennae) to lantana, mesquite which many of the species’ larval plants belong. Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) SOUTHERN DOGFACE — common spring to fall Wingspan: 3¼” to 4¼” In this case it’s the upper side of the forewing that Food: citrus, Parsley sports a dogface pattern. family Nectar: milkweed, Gray Hairstreak DAINTY SULPHUR — common spring to fall clover, thistle Ceraunus Blue Adults rest with their wings closed, holding them per- (Strymon melinus) (Hemiargus ceraunus) Wingspan: 7/8” to 1 3/8” pendicular to the sun to warm themselves. Wingspan: ¾” to 1 1/8” Food: Mallow and Food: Baja fairy duster, Pea families, cotton MONARCH – uncommon all year mesquite Nectar: milkweed, mint Monarchs migrate thousands of miles each year to Nectar: various flowers winter along the California coast and in central Mexico. GIANT SWALLOWTAIL — common spring to fall Caterpillars, known as “orange dogs,” feed exclusively on citrus leaves; their resemblance to bird droppings serves as the perfect disguise from predators! Butterfly Life Cycle Without the ability to chew, adults use special- Going “Native” Attracts Butterflies ized sensors in their feet to “taste” a plant be- Found on every continent except Antarctica Select plants native to the Sonoran Desert or other arid re- fore deciding whether it is one their caterpillars and in every kind of habitat from tropical for- gions for your garden. Provide a mix of both larval and nectar can eat and therefore a good place to lay their ests to tundra, butterflies don’t begin life as plants; a variety of flowering plants also insures a year round eggs. beautiful, winged creatures, but start out as nectar supply. Plant in groups, masses of flowers are more wriggly caterpillars. Over the course of several Unlike their adult selves, caterpillars chew their likely to attract passing butterflies. Finally, avoid pesticides weeks, caterpillars spend all their time eating leafy food, using strong jaws. Virtual eating ma- and herbicides. What else? Fill a pie plate with gravel and leaves and flowers, shedding their skins as chines, caterpillars are actually picky eaters, then keep filled with fresh water for drinks and/or provide a they grow bigger. When the time is right, they each species having its own “go-to” plants. damp soil area where adults can acquire needed salts and begin the process of metamorphosis. Turning minerals. You can even set our pieces of overripe fruit which that final shed skin into a pupa, or chrysalis, will attract species like the Empress Leilia which prefers rotted fruit and tree sap. they continue the transformation process, Puddle Parties emerging weeks, or even months, later as an Larval Plants Ever wondered what that gathering of butter- adult butterfly. Most adults live only a short Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia watsonii) – summer-fall – Pipevine Swallowtail flies was doing around that mud puddle? To time, just long enough to lay eggs for the next Arizona Passionflower Passiflora( foetida) – late spring-fall – Gulf Fritillary supplement generation. their diet of Both Larval and Adult Plants sugars, Pineleaf (Asclepias linaria) and Desert Milkweed (A. subulata) – spring-fall – Queen and Mon- butterflies arch (larval), Queen and Painted Lady (adult) gather salts Baja Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica) – all year – Ceraunus