Gulf fritillary
Sole species in brush-footed butterfly genus Agraulis / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Gulf fritillary or passion butterfly (Dione vanillae) is a bright orange butterfly in the subfamily Heliconiinae of the family Nymphalidae. That subfamily was formerly set apart as a separate family, the Heliconiidae. The Heliconiinae are "longwing butterflies", which have long, narrow wings compared to other butterflies.
Gulf fritillary | |
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Dorsal view | |
Ventral view | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Nymphalidae |
Tribe: | Heliconiini |
Genus: | Dione Hübner, [1819] |
Species: | D. vanillae |
Binomial name | |
Dione vanillae | |
Synonyms | |
Papilio vanillae Linnaeus, 1758 |
Dione vanillae is most commonly found in the southern areas of the United States, specifically in many regions of Florida and Texas.[2]
Gulf fritillaries have a chemical defense mechanism in which they release odorous chemicals in response to predator sightings. As a result, common predators learn to avoid this species.[3] Pheromones play a critical role in male-female courtship behaviors, with male gulf fritillaries emitting sex pheromones that contribute to mate choice in females.[4]
The scientific name Papilio vanillae was given to the gulf fritillary by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, based on a 1705 painting by Maria Sibylla Merian (The Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam, Plate XXV), which shows the adult and caterpillar of the gulf fritillary on a vanilla orchid, Vanilla planifolia. However, it is now known that the gulf fritillary caterpillar does not use the vanilla plant.[5] The species was moved to the genus Agraulis in 1835 by Boisduval & Le Conte. A phylogenetic analysis reported in 2019 placed Agraulis as a sub-genus of Dione.[6]