Anthanassa texana

Anthanassa texana, the Texan crescentspot, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found from Guatemala north through Mexico to southern California, east across the southern United States to northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Strays may be found up to Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, South Dakota, and central Nevada.[3] The habitat consists of deserts, dry gulches, open areas, streamsides, road edges, and city parks.

Texan crescentspot

Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Anthanassa
Species:
A. texana
Binomial name
Anthanassa texana
Synonyms
  • Melitaea texana W.H. Edwards, 1863
  • Tritanassa texana
  • Phyciodes texana
  • Eresia smerdis Hewitson, 1864
  • Eresia texana seminole Skinner, 1911

The wingspan is 32–48 mm. The outer margin is indented below the tip of the forewing. The upperside is black with small white spots and some rusty red near the wing bases. The hindwings have a median band of cream-colored spots. Adults are on wing from March to November in southern Florida and Arizona. They are on wing year round in southern Texas and the tropics. There are several generations per year.[4] Adults feed on flower nectar.

The larvae feed on the leaves of various low-growing plants of the family Acanthaceae, including Diciliptera brachiata, Jacobinia carnea, Beloperone, Siphonoglossa, and Ruellia species.

Subspecies
  • Anthanassa texana texana (Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Mexico)
  • Anthanassa texana seminole (Skinner, 1911) (Florida, Georgia)

References
  1. "NatureServe Explorer 2.0 - Anthanassa texana, Texan Crescent". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  2. "Anthanassa Scudder, 1875" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. A new species of Neominois from northeastern Mexico (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)
  4. Butterflies and Moths of North America


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