"Julia Butterfly" redirects here. For the activist and environmentalist, see Julia Butterfly Hill.
Dryas iulia (often incorrectly spelled julia), commonly called the Julia Butterfly, Julia Heliconian, The Flame, or Flambeau, is a species of brush-footed butterfly. The sole representative of its genus Dryas, it is native from Brazil to southern Texas and Florida, and in summer can sometimes be found as far north as eastern Nebraska. Over 15 subspecies have been described.


Two Julia Butterflies drinking tears from turtles in Ecuador
Its wingspan ranges from 82 to 92 mm, and it is colored orange (brighter in male specimens) with black markings; this species is somewhat unpalatable to birds and belongs to the "orange" Batesian Mimicry mimic complex.

This butterfly is a fast flier and frequents clearings, paths, and margins of forests and woodlands. It feeds on the nectar of flowers, such as lantanas (Lantana) and Shepherd's-needle (Scandix pecten-veneris), and the tears of caiman, the eye of which the butterfly irritates to produce tears. Its caterpillar feeds on leaves of passion vines including Passiflora affinis and Yellow Passionflower (P. lutea) in Texas.

The species is popular in butterfly houses because it is long-lived and active throughout the day.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.

D. i. alcionea (Cramer, 1779) – (Surinam, Bolivia, Brazil)
D. i. carteri (Riley, 1926) – (Bahamas)
D. i. delila (Fabricius, 1775) – (Jamaica)
D. i. dominicana (Hall, 1917) – (Dominica)
D. i. framptoni (Riley, 1926) – (St. Vincent)
D. i. fucatus (Boddaert, 1783) – (Dominican Republic)
D. i. iulia (Fabricius, 1775) – (Puerto Rico)
D. i. lucia (Riley, 1926) – (St. Lucia)
D. i. largo Clench, 1975 – (Florida)
D. i. martinica Enrico & Pinchon, 1969 – (Martinique)
D. i. moderata (Riley, 1926) – (Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador)
D. i. nudeola (Bates, 1934) – (Cuba)
D. i. warneri (Hall, 1936) – (St. Kitts)
D. i. zoe Miller & Steinhauser, 1992 – (Cayman Islands)

Dryas iulia alcionea MHNT


Dryas iulia dominicana MHNT


Caterpillar


D. i. alcionea
Brazil


D. i. alcionea
Brazil


D. i. alcionea
Brazil


D. i. delila
female, Jamaica


D. i. iulia
male, Trinidad


D. i. zoe
male, Grand Cayman


D. i. zoe
male, Grand Cayman


D. i. zoe
female, Grand Cayman


D. i. nudeola
male, Cuba


D. i. nudeola
female, Cuba


source - Wikipedia