Phoebis philea

[daveuk]

Orange Barred Sulpher.
This is an ex pupae pair from Costa Rica.

[Trehopr1]

Always striking and beautiful !

Have seen this in the wild in Florida (several times) when I have visited there but, they are impossible to catch outside of when they are pollinating. I have two males and the other pale (white) version of the female.

Will have to post my pictures here later...

Splendid species.

[daveuk]

Yes a very striking & beautiful species.
I have also seen it in Florida nectaring on Bottlebrush at the Kennedy Space Centre. Very wary & difficult to approach as you say.
Look forward to seeing your pale female form.

[Trehopr1]

Here is a fine large example from Lehigh, Florida.
It was one of eight specimens caught by a good friend
on June.07.2000. He stayed a couple weeks there so
he spread them all whilst fresh. Four of the eight were
fresh hatches and the others were still descent condition.

He remarked that he stumbled across a flowering tree
on the edge of the everglades. Probably, the only one for
quite a distance so this was "the spot" for everything to
nectar at !

He also said they were FAST and AGILE and still managed
to miss 3 others. One (chance) swing at each was all he got.

I secured this one through him via a sturdy trade.

[Trehopr1]

The other 2 specimens which I own are this pair
(also from Florida). There are two color forms
present in the females and the one pictured here
is the lesser seen/encountered form.

Just a "cracking" good species....

[daveuk]

Those are really beautiful specimens. The first male & the paler female are especially nice. Great they are fresh & wild caught too. Your friend is very generous & obviously a skilled collector & curator.

[58chevy]

About 15 years ago I was lucky enough to stumble across a colony of these near downtown Houston, TX. There was a large hedge of Senna in bloom. The males would patrol the top of the hedge in search of females, which often stopped to nectar on the flowers. After awhile I was able to predict the flight patterns of both sexes and was able to collect about a dozen specimens. Unfortunately, a hurricane destroyed the hedge the following year.

[daveuk]

Great story. Do you have any pictures of the ones you collected? Would love to see them.if you have.

[58chevy]

[Trehopr1]

Wonderful drawer 58Chevy !

Dave, you can readily see the stark difference between the two color forms of P. philea females in this drawer.

[daveuk]

That is a wonderful drawer & I can certainly see the variation. Thanks for sharing.