Bordered Patch Butterfly

 The bordered patch is a butterfly found in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America. They are usually food in habitat such as desert hills, pinyon or oak woodlands, thorn and mesquite scrub, road edges and agricultural fields.

 This is what is left of the chrysalis once the bordered patch emerges. In south Texas, where I took these photographs the adults can be seen flying through out the year. Adults feed primarily on nectar from flowers while the larva (caterpillar) feed on members of the sunflower family.

Bordered Patch Butterfly

 

The bordered patch is a butterfly that is usually found in the arid fields, woodlands, thorn forests of the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America and northern South America. When the adults are not feeding off nectar from a variety of flowers the males patrol hillsides looking for females.

Eggs are laid on plants that are members of the sunflower family. The caterpillars will eat the larval host plants and grow until it is time to pupate. There are usually multiple broods per year from March through October in the cooler portions of the range and year round in the warmer areas. The picture above is the chrysalis just after the new butterfly emerged.