Size:
Wingspan is 2 1/8 - 3 inches.

Similar Species:
None.

Habitat:
Disturbed fields, roadsides, cultivated areas, gardens, swamps, woodland edges and dunes.

Range/Abundance:
Stray or rare in the coastal plain. Accidental in the piedmont. Charleston, SC has an established colony. Rarely found in the Great Dismal Swamp in NC and VA, not recorded in WV.

Flight Period:
Adults fly from mid July until November. Most abundant in September and October.

Larval Host Plants:
Passion vines Passiflora spp.
Maypop Passiflora incarnata in the Carolinas.

Comments:
Males of this tropical species can smell the female before she emerges from her chrysalis. The most dominate male will fight off all other males and when she hatches the dominate male mates with her leaving a special pheromone that prevents any other males from mating with her.

There is an ongoing debate on the inland records of this species being releases or hitchhikers on plants from the tropics.

The top and bottoms photos were taken at the Carolina Pavilion Butterfly House in Durham, NC on June 23, 2000. The center photo was taken at Frontera Audubon Center in Weslaco, TX on December 05, 2004.

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