Dryadula phaetusa

Banded orange heliconian
male, dorsal view
Panama
female, ventral view
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Tribe: Heliconiini
Genus: Dryadula
Michner, 1942
Species:
D. phaetusa
Binomial name
Dryadula phaetusa


Dryadula is a monotypic genus of the butterfly family Nymphalidae. Its single species, Dryadula phaetusa, known as the banded orange heliconian, banded orange, or orange tiger, is native from Brazil to central Mexico, and in summer can be found rarely as far north as central Florida. Its wingspan ranges from 86 to 89 mm, and it is colored a bright orange with thick black stripes in males and a duller orange with fuzzier black stripes in females.

It feeds primarily on the nectar of flowers and on bird droppings; its caterpillar feeds on passion vines including Passiflora tetrastylis. It is generally found in lowland tropical fields and valleys.

This species is unpalatable to birds and belongs to the "orange" Müllerian mimicry complex.[1]

  • male underside
    male underside
  • female dorsal side
    female dorsal side
  • pinned specimen (both sides) - MHNT
    pinned specimen (both sides) - MHNT
  • female underside
    female underside
  • pinned specimen (female dorsal side)
    pinned specimen (female dorsal side)
  1. ^ Pinheiro, Carlos E.G. (1996) Palatability and escaping ability in Neotropical butterflies: Tests with wild kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus, Tyrannidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 59(4):351–365. HTML abstract