FOR AGES 3 YEARS TO 18 YEARS
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The cloudless sulphur (phoebis sennae) is a medium-sized yellow butterfly from the family Pieridae, it is found throughout America. The average wingspan of these butterflies is about 2-3 in (5-7.6 cm) and clear signs of sexual dimorphism between males and females are visible.
There are three recognized subspecies of these butterflies known as Phoebis sennae amphitrite, Phoebis sennae sennae, and Phoebis sennae marcellina. The caterpillar feeds on flowers and leaves from partridge pea, cassia, and senna from the pea family before metamorphosing into a smooth chrysalis. Both cassia and senna are poisonous, allowing these caterpillars to collect a toxic barrier against the predators. These caterpillars are considered evasive pests, as turn yellow when eating yellow flowers, and turn green when eating leaves.
Cloudless sulphurs have surprisingly long tongues, that help them to reach the nectar of even the narrowest and longest flowers. Adult butterflies are very clever at camouflaging themselves, typically by resting on flowers that closely match the bright yellow color.
If you liked these true facts about cloudless sulphur, then you'll surely like these facts about the white admiral butterfly and painted lady butterflies too!
A cloudless sulphur butterfly is a medium-sized butterfly from the order Lepidoptera, that looks similar to the yellow angled sulphur and satira sulphur.
A cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae) belongs to the class of Insecta.
The total population size of these butterflies in the wild is unknown, though the wide range and comparatively ample population size of the butterfly indicate that this species is flourishing and will be able to survive for some time to come in the future.
Cloudless sulphur butterflies (Phoebis sennae) range from northern Argentina through Central America, stretching to south Florida and south Texas. This butterfly species can also be found in Kansas, New Mexico, North Carolina, and southern Georgia. This butterfly is available in abundant in the Amazon regions. These species are seasonal migrators but they do not travel far, these butterflies will travel to Florida from the month of June until February.
The cloudless sulphur butterfly (Phoebis sennae) is found in gardens, tropical scrubs, forest edges, and fields. A male can be easily found on the rivers ledges and open spaces. Females can be found in the narrow parts of the forest along the edges.
Cloudless sulphur butterflies (phoebis sennae) are solitary in nature just like most butterflies and are seen together with others only during the mating period. The cloudless sulphur butterflies are known for their migration in massive numbers towards the tropical regions during winter. In very rare scenarios small groups of cloudless sulphur butterflies can be seen assembling together around mud pools.
The average lifespan of an adult butterfly is two to four weeks in the wild.
The breeding season of these bright yellow cloudless sulphur butterflies depends on the climate, as these species tend to spawn during midsummer to winter and year-round in the warmer climatic regions. To attract a female and mate, males search for females throughout the day, and once it finds a suitable female, it lands beside the female making contact with her wings, then the female opens her wings and raises her abdomen giving approval for mating.
Cloudless sulphurs reproduce by laying eggs. The female butterfly lays a single egg on the tips of a senna, or cassia plant, where it grows into a caterpillar or larvae. These caterpillar feeds on the leaves and flowers of the plants and grow larger in size and shed its skin to fit its growing body. And the chrysalis tissues are broken down and the adult butterfly body is formed.
The cloudless sulphur (phoebis sennae) is listed as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, due to the abundant population of these butterflies throughout South America.
Male cloudless sulfur butterflies are usually solid yellow color, whereas, the females are also yellow in color but additional features visible are a dark spot at the center of each forewing and a black border on their yellow wings. Male sulphur butterflies display some seasonal dimorphism during the winter their forms are usually larger and have darker markings on their wings.
All butterflies species are beautiful, attractive, and cute insects and the cloudless sulphur with their bright yellow-colored wings are a treat for your eyes.
Unlike other species of butterflies who use chemical pheromones to communicate such as the purple emperor butterflies and morpho butterflies, the cloudless sulphur uses touch and smell to communicate with each other.
Butterflies are small creatures when compared to other species in the order Lepidoptera, an adult cloudless sulphur can reach up to 2-3 in (5-7.6 cm) wingspan.
The reported flying speed of the cloudless sulphur butterfly is 4.9-6.8 mph (7.8-11 kph), these species try to stay near the ground and feed on the flowers.
The cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae) is extremely light in weight and an adult can grow up to 0.004-0.006 lb (1.8-2.7 g).
No specific name has been assigned to either sex of this species.
Similar to any other species of butterflies, baby cloudless sulphurs are called larvae or caterpillars and these caterpillars or larvae turn into a chrysalis before metamorphosing into an adult.
The caterpillar feeds on pea pods of the cassia and senna plants from partridge pea chamaecrista. Adults prefer the nectar of wild morning glory, milkweeds, hibiscus, pentas, dewdrops, azaleas, Mexican sage ad autumn sage. The color of the caterpillars is depended on the feeding design, if the caterpillars feed on colored leaves or yellow flowers it will turn the same color, and if it feeds on green leaves of the senna and cassia plant it turns green. These butterflies acquire nutrients and minerals from the soil while feeding on the mud puddles.
No, these butterflies are not dangerous at all, unlike the monarch butterflies that carry harmful toxins in their bodies.
Keeping cloudless sulphurs as pets can be hectic work as they require large open space to fly and a specific diet of senna and cassia plants which is not easy to provide.
These butterflies fly low during migration and are only 9.9 ft (3 m) above the ground and if they face any obstacle on their way, instead of adjusting their path they will try to fly over it.
Some larvae feed mostly on yellow flowers of the cassia and senna plants in the wild and these larvae turn yellow in color with diagonal bands.
To attract this beautiful butterfly to your garden you need to plant their host plants, such as Bahama cassia, wild senna, partridge pea, and other native species. Adults mostly feed on a vast variety of nectar plants, such as honeysuckle or petunias with the help of their long proboscis.
These butterflies are very choosy when it comes to roosting, they look for the perfect place to roost and it may even take several attempts for them to find a preferable site for roosting.
No, the cloudless sulphur butterfly (Phoebis sennae) is not endemic. In the wild, these butterflies migrate towards the south. Cloudless sulphur butterfly migration occurs usually in late summer and these species follow the sun and migrate only 12 mi (19.3 km) a day.
Cloudless sulphur butterflies display sexual dimorphism between both sexes, males are usually solid yellow in color and females are yellow in color with a dark spot on the center of each fore wing and black borders on their wings. Male butterflies display seasonal dimorphism as they grow larger in the summer during the breeding season.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these red admiral butterfly facts and viceroy butterfly facts for kids.
You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable butterfly side coloring pages.
Read The Disclaimer
At Kidadl we pride ourselves on offering families original ideas to make the most of time spent together at home or out and about, wherever you are in the world. We strive to recommend the very best things that are suggested by our community and are things we would do ourselves - our aim is to be the trusted friend to parents.
We try our very best, but cannot guarantee perfection. We will always aim to give you accurate information at the date of publication - however, information does change, so it’s important you do your own research, double-check and make the decision that is right for your family.
Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate and suitable for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability.
Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. Anyone using the information provided by Kidadl does so at their own risk and we can not accept liability if things go wrong.
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