Limenitis arthemis

Taxobox
name = Limenitis arthemis

image_width = 250px
image_caption = Red-spotted Purple ("Limenitis arthemis astyanax")
status = NE
status_system = IUCN3.1
regnum =

"Limenitis arthemis" is a North American brush-footed butterfly, common throughout much of the eastern United States. It has red spots on its underwing. The top of the wings are notable for their iridescent blue markings.

ubspecies

*"Limenitis arthemis arthemis" - (American) White Admiral ("see also Limenitis camilla").
*"Limenitis arthemis rubrofasciata" - Western (American) White Admiral, characterised by the absence of blue spots on its inferior wings.
*"Limenitis arthemis astyanax" and "Limenitis arthemis arizonensis" - Red-spotted Purple or Red-spotted Admiral, both characterised by the absence of white bands on their wings.

The White Admiral ("Limenitis arthemis arthemis") is, since a poll in October 1998, the (unofficial) insect emblem of the province of Québec, Canada. (See Quebec symbols and emblems for further details). It is the only sub-species of "Limenitis arthemis" present in Quebec.

The Red-spotted Purple is a mimic of the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail ("Battus philenor") and is typically found in open woodlands and along forest edges.

Ecology

Preferred host plants: birches, including "Betula lenta"; Salicaceae, including "Salix bebbiana" and "Populus tremuloides", and "Prunus virginiana" (Rosaceae).

Also but not as often: "Crataegus", "Amelanchier", "Malus pumila", "Prunus pensylvanica" and "Prunus serotina" (Rosaceae), "Populus deltoides", "P. grandidentata" and "P. balsamifera" (Salicaceae), "Alnus rugosa", "Betula alleghaniensis" and "Carpinus caroliniana" (Betulaceae), "Ulmus americana" (Ulmaceae), "Tilia americana" (Malvaceae) and "Fagus grandifolia" (Fagaceae).

Adults are diurnal, they fly from the morning until soon after dusk (Fullard & Napoleone 2001).

Etymology

"Limenitis" (New Latin "of harbours", from Ancient Greek Λιμενιτις (from λιμήν, a harbour, haven) - an epithet of Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the wild. "arthemis", from Artemis. [The Century Dictionary by The Century Company. Available online at [http://www.leoyan.com/century dictionary.com/index.html] .]

In popular culture

The poem "Unconscious came a beauty" by May Swenson mentions the "Red spotted purple" (or the similar looking Mourning cloak) - a butterfly that makes her pause in her writing. The poem is also a word-picture or iconograph, where the lines are laid out to look like a butterfly.

References

* (2001): Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera. "Animal Behaviour" 62(2): 349–368. doi|10.1006/anbe.2001.1753 [http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3full/reprints/FullNapolDielAB.pdf PDF fulltext]

* (1999): "Papillons du Québec". Broquet. ISBN 2-89000-486-4

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.cirrusimage.com/butterfly_red-spotted_purple.htm Red-Spotted Purple: Reference large format diagnostic photographs from Cirrus Digital Imaging]
* [http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/wi/24.htm White Admiral]
* [http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/johnson/hort/Butterfly/RedSpottedPurple.htm Life cycle with photographs] of the Red-Spotted Purple ("Limenitis arthemis astyanax").
* [http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Limenitis+arthemis_astyanax Pictures of the different subspecies] from * [http://www.discoverlife.org/ Discover Life] .
* [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Limenitis_arthemis.html Limenitis arthemis] at "Animal Diversity Web"