Bordered Patch
Chlosyne lacinia
Insecta
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- A few weeks
- Size
- Small
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Social
- Solitary
- Biome
- Temperate grassland
- Range
- North and South America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Warning colors
- Status
- Common
About
The Bordered Patch is a strikingly variable checkerspot butterfly found across the southern US and into South America, with wing patterns ranging from mostly black with a broad yellow-orange patch to nearly all orange, sometimes differing even between siblings from the same brood. Its black, spiny, orange-banded caterpillars are gregarious, feeding together in clusters on sunflowers and other composites.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
- 2.caterpillarA voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
- 3.chrysalisA chrysalis hangs sealed and still while the body remodels into a winged adult.
- 4.butterflyA winged adult with full scales and coloration, ready to fly and mate.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Genus
- Chlosyne
- Species
- Chlosyne lacinia