The Southern Cloudywing is a butterfly that is found in North America. This butterfly is from the Hesperiidae family.
What Does the Southern Cloudywing Look Like?
The Southern Cloudywing is an average sized butterfly that has white rings around the eyes and around the antennae. The wings are dark brown and have a row of white spots.
Close to the front wings is a spot that is shaped like an hour glass. The Southern Cloudywing has an area near the back that has four different spots and they are all connected with one mark.
Under the Southern Cloudywing, there are dark brown and spots and bands. Some of them have a frosty looking coloring.
The wingspan of the Southern Cloudywing is 1.5 inches.
Where Does the Southern Cloudywing Live?
The Southern Cloudywing lives in the eastern part of the United States.
The habitat of the Southern Cloudywing is close to fields, woodlands, meadows and close to moist areas.
When is the Southern Cloudywing Most Active?
The Southern Cloudywing is most active between June and July in the north and March to November in the southern areas.
Lifecycle
The male Southern Cloudywings are very territorial and they will live on the same perch for their whole life.
The female Southern Cloudywing lays one egg on the bottom of a plant leaf and the egg is a pale green color.
The caterpillar will come out and will be brown or greenish looking and have a dark stripe down the middle. The head and the collar are black.
What Does the Southern Cloudywing Eat?
The caterpillar of the Southern Cloudywing eats plants such as the Butterfly pea, the Spurred Butterfly Pea, the Round leaved tick-trefoil, slick seed bean, the American bean and more.
The adult Southern Cloudywing likes to drink nectar from blue, purple, pink or white flowers including the crown vetch, Japanese honeysuckle and more.
Finding a Mate
The male Southern Cloudywing will perch on leaves around 5 foot above the ground and when females come they will find a mate. The male will do this on hills and will stay at the same perch forever.
Females lay one egg at a time.
The caterpillars will eat the leaves and live on shelters that they roll.
Caterpillars will hibernate once they are fully grown.
More Facts About the Southern Cloudywing:
- Predators of the Southern Cloudywing are amphibians, birds and other insects.
- Sometimes the habitat of the Southern Cloudywing includes areas that have been burned and powerline areas.
- The wings of an adult Southern Cloudywing can get up to 1.7 inches.
- The Southern Cloudywing caterpillar likes eating bean leaves.
- Some states the Southern Cloudywing are found in is Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Florida and Texas.
What Did You Learn?
What is the Southern Cloudywing?
The Southern Cloudywing is a butterfly that is mainly found in eastern United States.
What does the Southern Cloudywing eat?
The Southern Cloudywing caterpillar loves leaves from beans. The adult Southern Cloudywing drinks nectar from pink, purple, blue and white flowers.
What is the habitat of the Southern Cloudywing?
The Southern Cloudywing lives in a habitat of meadows, prairies, burned areas and close to powerline areas.
Does the Southern Cloudywing have predators?
Yes. The Southern Cloudywing has natural predators including amphibians, other insects and birds.
How often does the male Southern Cloudywing move perches?
The Southern Cloudywing male never leaves the perch it starts on.
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