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Species Agraulis incarnata - Gulf Fritillary - Hodges#4413

Agraulis vanillae - Agraulis incarnata Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar - Agraulis incarnata gulf fritillary - Agraulis incarnata Gulf Fritillary - Agraulis incarnata Gulf Fritillary - Agraulis incarnata Gulf Fritillary / Agraulis vanillae - Agraulis incarnata species of lep? - Agraulis incarnata Butterfly in Myrtle Beach State Park, SC 9-22-19 - Agraulis incarnata
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)
Family Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)
Subfamily Heliconiinae (Heliconians and Fritillaries)
Tribe Heliconiini (Longwings or Heliconians)
Genus Agraulis
Species incarnata (Gulf Fritillary - Hodges#4413)
Hodges Number
4413
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Núñez et al. (2022) (1) used molecular and morphological data to split up Agraulis vanillae (Linnaeus) into eight species. The species in the United States, Mexico, and much of Central America is Agraulis incarnata (Riley). True Agraulis vanillae is found in northern South America, Panama, and the southern Lesser Antilles.
Size
Wingspan 63 - 95 mm (2 1/2 - 3 3/4 inches).
Identification
Below, the elongated silvery spots on the butterfly's hind wings and the edge of its forewings are characteristic (though quite similar to the pattering of Dione moneta). Above, bright orange with black markings around the border and three black-rimmed white spots on each forewing.


Larvae are generally orange with black branched spines and greenish-black stripes.


There is a larval variant with purple/lavender stripes, seen mostly in Texas.


Eggs are yellow, laid singly on leaves of host plants.
Range
NM-FL-NJ-CO, CA / W. Indies / Mex. to southern S. Amer. (MPG data)
Adults move northward in spring and form temporarily breeding colonies throughout the southeast. Individual vagrants may occasionally reach into the central U.S., but rarely into the Midwest. Starting in late summer and continuing through fall, huge numbers of adults migrate southward into peninsular Florida.
Season
mostly: Mar-Nov (MPG data)
Food

Larvae feed on Passion Flower - Passiflora spp.
Life Cycle
Photo Essay - Mike Quinn
See Also
Zebra Longwing caterpillars also host on Passiflora. They are white with black spines and brown spots.
Print References
Butterflies of Florida (2)
Works Cited
1.Integrative taxonomy clarifies species limits in the hitherto monotypic passion-vine butterfly genera Agraulis and Dryas
Rayner Núñez, Keith R. Willmott, Yosiel Álvarez, Julio A. Genaro, Antonio R. Pérez-Asso, Marina Quejereta, Thomas Turner, Ja. 2022. Systematic Entomology, 47: 152-178.
2.Butterflies of Florida Field Guide (Our Nature Field Guides)
Jaret C. Daniels. 2003. Adventure Publications.