Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Zerene cesonia - Southern Dogface - Hodges#4224

Sulfur ID? - Zerene cesonia - male Colias (Zerene) cesonia - Zerene cesonia Adult emerging - Zerene cesonia Southern Dogface - Zerene cesonia - male Coliadinae - Zerene cesonia Sulphur butterfly - Zerene cesonia - female Southern Dogface caterpillar - Zerene cesonia Zerene cesonia
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 Pieridae (Whites, Sulphurs, Yellows)
Subfamily Coliadinae (Sulphurs and Yellows)
Genus Zerene (Dogfaces)
Species cesonia (Southern Dogface - Hodges#4224)
Hodges Number
4224
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Zerene cesonia (Stoll)
Orig. Comb: Papilio cesonia Stoll 1790
Syn: Colias cesonia (Stoll)
Explanation of Names
a 'dog's face' in each forewing
Numbers
2 spp. n. of Mex.
Size
wingspan 50-76 mm
Identification
pattern of the upper forewing resembles a yellow "dog face" bordered by black, with a black circle forming the eye
Range
resident in California, Texas, and Florida; regular migrant across southern two-thirds of United States - Map (MPG)
Habitat
open areas such as roadsides and pastures
Season
Three flights in the southern states from May-June, July-August, and September-April. Northern colonists have one generation per year, or do not reproduce at all.
Food
larvae feed on legumes (plants in the pea family) such as Alfalfa (Medicago sativa); prairie clover (Pentalostemon), Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens), False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa), Soy Bean (Glycine max), Black Dalea (Dalea frutescens), Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea), and clover (Trifolium) species
Life Cycle
three generations per year in the south, to none in the north (migrants only)