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Subspecies Asterocampa celtis antonia - Texas Hackberry Emperor

Hackberry Emperor - Asterocampa celtis - female Brown butterfly - Asterocampa celtis - male Unidentified Butterfly - Asterocampa celtis - male Butterfly - Asterocampa celtis - female Butterfly - Asterocampa celtis - female butterfly, Tawny Emperor ? - Asterocampa celtis Larva, Texas Hackberry Emperor? - Asterocampa celtis Butterfly Species - Asterocampa celtis
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 Apaturinae (Emperors)
Tribe Apaturini
Genus Asterocampa
Species celtis (Hackberry Emperor - Hodges#4557)
Subspecies antonia (Texas Hackberry Emperor)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Apatura antonia W. H. Edwards, 1877. Type locality: Texas and Arizona (Refined to vicinity of Norse, Bosque County, Texas” by F. M. Brown, 1967)
Apatura antonia (W. H. Edwards) Field & Forest, 1878
Apatura antonia var. montis W. H. Edwards, 1883. Type locality: Mount Graham, Pinaleno Mountains, Graham County, Arizona
Asterocampa celtis jeffermont J. Scott & M. Fisher, 2008. Type locality: Indian Gultch, Clear Creek Canyon, Jefferson Co. Colorado
Asterocampa celtis antonia form mexicana Freidlander, 1987. Type locality: lower Rio Grande valley of Texas and southward [nomen nudum, without description or type specimen]
Identification
The western representative of the species. This subspecies is varied, and some authors break it up into more than one, but the one feature that is fairly constant and easily observed is the "extra" eyespot near the lower outer margin of the front wing. This is sometimes partly and/or only faintly indicated on other subspecies (mostly toward the west where subspecies celtis meets ssp. antonia, but on subspecies antonia it is usually strongly indicated, and often a complete circle. Sometimes in ssp. antonia the gap between the upper eye spot and the lower two is filled in, formain a complete row of four eye spots (not just three) on the lower side of the front wing.
Range
It is found in Texas, w. Oklahoma, w. Kansas, sw. Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado, s. Wyoming, Arizona, Utah (e. of Gt. Basin), s. Nevada, & se. California, as well as in northern Mexico. Roughly west of a line drawn from southeastern Texas, north through Dallas, diagonally across Oklahoma and western Kansas, clipping northeastern Colorado, and ending near Cheyenne in southeastern Wyoming. In a relatively broad zone along this line ssp. antonia blends into ssp. celtis which replaces it eastward.
Habitat
Varied, but always near Hackberry trees.
Season
multiple-brooded with probably usually two broods in the north and more southward.
Food
Hackberry (Celtis) species