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Cloudless sulphur
Cloudless sulphur
Phoebis sennae
Butterfly
Large lemon-yellow butterfly whose larvae feed on legumes in the genera Senna, Cassia, and Chamaecrista (Fabaceae); the caterpillars sequester compounds from these hosts as a chemical defense. Adults have an exceptionally long proboscis and favor deep, often red or pink tubular flowers that shorter-tongued visitors cannot reach. A strong flier, the species mounts large seasonal emigrations northward each summer and retreats south to overwinter, making it a familiar late-season garden visitor well beyond its core breeding range.
Conservation
Common and secure across its range with no IUCN, Xerces Red List, or USFWS listing; the USDA Forest Service describes its populations as abundant and thriving. Habitat loss along migratory corridors is the noted long-term pressure on this and other migrating butterflies.
Plants in the catalog
Larval host plants · 4
Wild senna
Senna hebecarpa
Specialist
Groundnut
Apios americana
Plausible
White clover
Trifolium repens
Plausible
Wild lupine
Lupinus perennis
Plausible
Range
Resident year-round in the Deep South (Florida, the Gulf Coast, southern Texas) and southward into Central and South America; breeds throughout most of the mainland United States and emigrates north as far as southern Canada in late summer and fall, returning south to overwinter.
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