Butterflies of the
Amazon and Andes
Straight-line
Sulphur
Rhabdodryas trite
LINNAEUS, 1758
Family - PIERIDAE
subfamily - COLIADINAE
Rhabdodryas trite,
Satipo, Peru �
Adrian Hoskins
Introduction
The genus Rhabdodryas
comprises a single species trite, which
produces 4 named subspecies i.e. the nominate race
trite, the Brazilian
banksi, watsoni
from the Dominican Republic, and
cinnamon-rosea from Mexico.
Rhabdodryas trite trite is found from
Colombia to Bolivia and Argentina.
Habitats
As with most other Coliadinae, trite is
highly migratory in behaviour and can thus be found in a wide
variety of habitats including rainforest,
deciduous woodland, scrubby grassland and farmland. It can be found
at altitudes between 0-1200m.
Lifecycle
The larval foodplant is
Pentaclethra ( Mimosaceae ).
Adult behaviour
This species uses rivers as migration
corridors, and can often be seen flying in strings of up to a dozen
insects along riverbanks. Males commonly
aggregate with other Coliadinae including various
Phoebis species and
Aphrissa statira, to imbibe mineralised moisture from river
beaches.
These butterflies often form densely
packed groups comprising of dozens of
individuals. If alarmed the entire group erupts spontaneously,
swirling in the air as a seething mass of fluttering yellow and white
wings. When the danger has passed, they cautiously resettle one by one
to resume feeding.
Late in the day the males leave the river
beaches and normally sit about on the foliage of bushes
for about half an hour, before eventually flying up into the forest
canopy. Females spend most of their time in the canopy, but descend to
oviposit on Pentaclethra saplings in
light gaps.
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