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Photo#617181
depositing eggs - Phoebis philea - female
Copyright © 2012 EatYourTv

depositing eggs - Phoebis philea - Female

Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida, USA
February 19, 2012
tag · login or register to post comments
Contributed by EatYourTv on 28 February, 2012 - 9:48pm
Last updated 29 February, 2012 - 9:02am

Comments

VERY VERY unusual giant-sulfur
This does look most like a female P. philea (Orange-barred Sulfur), but it's very aberrant. It's lacking the two silver spots on the hindwing, and the central spot on the forewing is greatly reduced from the norm. A normal female forewing would have a large, silvery spot bordered with black.

It DOES however remind me of some Old World species in the genus Catopsilia, similar but not closely related to our Phoebis giant-sulfurs. Was this one seen close to a butterfly conservatory!?
… semirelicta, 10 June, 2012 - 10:13pm login or register to post comments

Phoebis species show a lot of variation in coloring and pattern
and the books/field guides usually only have room for one or perhaps a few pictures of a species. A great thing about BugGuide is (often) lots of pictures to compare with.

Moved from ID Request.
… David J. Ferguson, 29 February, 2012 - 8:59am login or register to post comments

Looks like
An Orange-barred Sulphur (Phoebis philea), although there seem to be a couple of silver spots missing on the hind wing.
… psweet, 29 February, 2012 - 7:35am login or register to post comments

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