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 Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax)
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| Limenitis arthemis (Drury, 1773) |
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Basilarchia arthemis |
Limenitis arthemis is a North American brush-footed butterfly, common throughout much of the eastern United States. It has red spots on its underwing. The top of the wings are notable for their iridescent blue markings.
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Subspecies
- Limenitis arthemis arthemis - (American) White Admiral (see also Limenitis camilla).
- Limenitis arthemis rubrofasciata - Western (American) White Admiral, characterised by the absence of blue spots on its inferior wings.
- Limenitis arthemis astyanax and Limenitis arthemis arizonensis - Red-spotted Purple or Red-spotted Admiral, both characterised by the absence of white bands on their wings.
The White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis arthemis) is, since a poll in October 1998, the (unofficial) insect emblem of the province of Québec, Canada. (See Quebec symbols and emblems for further details). It is the only sub-species of Limenitis arthemis present in Quebec. The Red-spotted Purple is a mimic of the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) and is typically found in open woodlands and along forest edges.
 White Admiral in Southern Maine. |
 Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax), Baltimore, Maryland, USA. |
 Two White Admiral butterflies (Limenitis arthemis arthemis), New Brunswick, Canada. |
 White Admiral in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. |
Ecology
Preferred host plants: birches, including Betula lenta; Salicaceae, including Salix bebbiana and Populus tremuloides, and Prunus virginiana (Rosaceae). Also but not as often: Crataegus, Amelanchier, Malus pumila, Prunus pensylvanica and Prunus serotina (Rosaceae), Populus deltoides, P. grandidentata and P. balsamifera (Salicaceae), Alnus rugosa, Betula alleghaniensis and Carpinus caroliniana (Betulaceae), Ulmus americana (Ulmaceae), Tilia americana (Malvaceae) and Fagus grandifolia (Fagaceae). Adults are diurnal, they fly from the morning until soon after dusk (Fullard & Napoleone 2001).
Etymology
Limenitis (New Latin "of harbours", from Ancient Greek Λιμενιτις (from λιμήν, a harbour, haven) - an epithet of Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the wild. arthemis, from Artemis.[1]
References
- Fullard, James H. & Napoleone, Nadia (2001): Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera. Animal Behaviour 62(2): 349–368. doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1753 PDF fulltext
- Handfield, Louis (1999): Papillons du Québec. Broquet. ISBN 2-89000-486-4
Footnotes
- ^ The Century Dictionary by The Century Company. Available online at dictionary.com/index.html.
External links
- Red-Spotted Purple: Reference large format diagnostic photographs from Cirrus Digital Imaging
- White Admiral
- Life cycle with photographs of the Red-Spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax).
- Pictures of the different subspecies from *Discover Life.
- Limenitis arthemis at Animal Diversity Web
