Cloudless sulphur

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.

Larval host plants · 4

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.