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Photo#1002725
Hackberry Emperor - Asterocampa celtis - male

Hackberry Emperor - Asterocampa celtis - Male
Stonebluff, Wagoner County, Oklahoma, USA
September 28, 2014
Just curious how you tell a male from a female with these? There are many of them congregating around a sap pool on the bottom of an oak every day.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

This one is a male
The females are generally larger and they have more full and rounded wings. The males and females tend to behave differently too, though when feeding that difference isn't as noticeable. Males tend to be very active and pugnacious, defending territories in sunny open areas near their host plants, often along pathways, streamsides or roadways. They are very visible, and often fly out to investigate much larger creatures passing by (such as people). Females tend to stay closer to the host plants and seem to spend most of their time sitting on the branches or slowly flying around within the trees looking for a place to lay eggs. When you can see the abdomen, that of the females tends to be slightly shorter, but usually distinctly fatter (the shape depends somewhat on how many eggs are still inside). The genitalia at the tip of the abdomen are quite different, but in these particular butterflies this is hard to make out in photographs.

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