Red-spotted Purple (Click image to enlarge) |
Red-spotted Purple Basilarchia astyanax Red-spotted Purple. The red spots refered to in the name appear on the undersides of the wings. Red-spotted Purples are members of the Family Nymphalinae, a group with includes the Buckeye, Viceroy, and Comma and Question Mark butterflies. Scott regards the Red-spotted Purple as conspecific with the White Admiral, Limenitis arthemis arthemis, but Pyle lists them separately and states that "...genetic evidence suggests that they have come together relatively recently." Pyle also notes that the Red-spotted Purple is a mimic of the Pipevine Swallowtail, a species distasteful and toxic to birds. Birds therefore tend to avoid both species. Scott reports that adult Red-spotted Purples feed on a varied diet of sap, fruit, nectar, carrion, dung, and decaying wood. |
|