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Chlosyne lacinia
The Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia, sometimes called the Sunflower Patch) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is an extremely variable butterfly with the underside of the wings being just as variable as the upper side. All of these variations have a red spot near the hind wing tornus while its wingspan ranges from 1¼ to 1⅞ inches.
It may be encountered in habitats such as desert hills, mesquite woodlands, pinyon woodlands, and oak woodlands. In North America, this species prefers to inhabit agricultural areas and weedy wastelands where the preferred host plant Helianthus annuus ( a Sun Flower) occurs. This species is found from May to October in California, late January to mid-November in Arizona, and all year in southern Texas.
Found this today on a nature walk along the Medina River.
Thank you Agnes, for the wonderful comment and for the ID. I ran into a lot of butterflies in one location. It's a bit of a hike to find the main hot spot but always well worth it. Thanks for the ID too.
Spotted on Nov 17, 2012
Submitted on Nov 18, 2012
