Orange-barred Sulphur
Phoebis philea (Linnaeus, 1763)
Family: Pieridae
Subfamily: Coliadinae
Identification: Upperside of male bright yellow-orange; forewing has red-orange bar and hindwing has red-orange outer margin. The two forms of the female, one off-white and the other yellow-orange, are much larger than the male. Both have upperside of forewing with solid black cell spot and a submarginal row of broken, angled black smudges. Outer half of hindwing of yellow form is red-orange.
Wing Span: 2 3/4 - 4 inches (7 - 10.2 cm).
Life History: Swift, high fliers. Females lay single eggs on leaves and flowers of host plants; caterpillars prefer to feed on the flowers. Development is continous in the wet season.
Flight: Two-three flights in Florida, one in northern range from mid-late summer.
Caterpillar Hosts: Cassia species in the pea family (Fabaceae).
Adult Food: Nectar from many different flowers.
Habitat: Open lowland sites such as gardens, forest edges, parks, road edges.
Range: Resident from Brazil north to peninsular Florida and the Keys. Irregular wanderer to south Texas; extremely rare vagrant in Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Connecticut.
Conservation: Not usually required.
NCGR: G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.
Management Needs: None reported.
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Verified Sightings
Displaying 169 - 192 of 436 verified sightings
Observation date: Aug 20, 2014
Submitted by: sunfire50
Region: Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Mar 23, 2018
Observation date: Feb 02, 2018
Submitted by: Tiberius
Region: Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Feb 19, 2018
Observation date: Dec 14, 2017
Submitted by: Bill Uttenweiler
Region: Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Jan 24, 2018
Observation date: Dec 15, 2017
Submitted by: Bill Uttenweiler
Region: Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Jan 24, 2018
Observation date: Nov 27, 2017
Submitted by: mellielong
Region: Pinellas County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Nov 28, 2017
Observation date: Nov 18, 2017
Submitted by: mellielong
Region: Hillsborough County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Nov 19, 2017
Observation date: Nov 14, 2017
Submitted by: Justuff
Region: Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Nov 14, 2017
Observation date: Nov 01, 2017
Submitted by: mellielong
Region: Hillsborough County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Nov 02, 2017
Observation date: May 03, 2016
Submitted by: Paul Prappas
Region: Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Sep 21, 2017
Observation date: Sep 07, 2017
Submitted by: mellielong
Region: Hillsborough County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Sep 09, 2017
Observation date: Oct 18, 2015
Submitted by: Tommie Rogers
Region: Cameron County, Texas, United States
Verified by: stomlins701
Verified date: Sep 02, 2017
Observation date: Aug 13, 2009
Submitted by: Jeff Trahan
Region: Orleans Parish, Louisiana, United States
Verified by: stomlins701
Verified date: Aug 22, 2017
Observation date: Aug 13, 2017
Submitted by: mellielong
Region: Hillsborough County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Aug 19, 2017
Observation date: Feb 07, 2017
Submitted by: Kathy Brown
Region: Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Aug 19, 2017
Observation date: Aug 02, 2017
Submitted by: mellielong
Region: Monroe County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Aug 10, 2017
Observation date: Aug 03, 2017
Submitted by: hunter58
Region: Hernando County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Aug 10, 2017
Observation date: Jul 18, 2017
Submitted by: Bill Uttenweiler
Region: Orange County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Jul 21, 2017
Observation date: Apr 29, 2017
Submitted by: John LeBlanc
Region: Pinellas County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: May 09, 2017
Observation date: Feb 14, 2017
Submitted by: mellielong
Region: Hillsborough County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Feb 15, 2017
Observation date: Jan 20, 2017
Submitted by: raven10322
Region: Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Jan 28, 2017
Observation date: Jan 21, 2017
Submitted by: Doug Taron
Region: Michoacán, Mexico
Verified by: Doug Taron
Verified date: Jan 24, 2017
Observation date: Nov 08, 2016
Submitted by: CA Ivy
Region: Sebastian County, Arkansas, United States
Verified by: CA Ivy
Verified date: Jan 15, 2017
Observation date: Jan 06, 2017
Submitted by: AJVanh.arch
Region: Martin County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Jan 08, 2017
Observation date: Jan 06, 2017
Submitted by: mellielong
Region: Hillsborough County, Florida, United States
Verified by: John Calhoun
Verified date: Jan 08, 2017
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