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Project Noah Nature School
Agraulis vanillae
The upperside of the Gulf Fritillary is bright orange with black markings. These warning colors are known as Batesian mimicry. Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species. This form of mimicry differs from Mullerian mimicry where two or more harmful species mimic each other.
Range: Southern U.S. - Central America, West Indies. Pastures, open fields, tropical forest edges, gardens. Host Plants: Passionflower (Passiflora sp.)
Spotted on Dec 27, 2011
Submitted on Jan 31, 2012
2 Comments
Thank you Donna!
Lovely photo