Guadeloupe, Pointe Noire, 9-IV-98, B. Lalanne-Cassou leg.

Female

Guadeloupe, Pointe Noire, 9-IV-98, B. Lalanne-Cassou leg.

Eurema daira (Godart, 1819)

Pieridae Coliadinae

Barred Yellow

Biology and distribution

Larva on Fabaceae: Desmodium spp. (Pinchon & Enrico), Aeschynomene americana and Stylosanthes hamata (Turner).

Guadeloupe and Martinique: common.
Marie-Galante.

St-Kitts, Dominica, St-Vincent, Barbados, Grenada.
Bahamas (E.d. daira) and throughout the Greater Antilles (E.d. palmira).

From the south of the United States to Brazil.

Legend

Sexual behaviour

The courtship behaviour of this species is rather unusual. After landing just near the female, the male waves one of his forewings in front of the female antennae. This behaviour may occur several times until the female accepts the male for copulation. The wing-waving display is a requisite part of successful courship. It probably evokes the emission of courtship pheromones through alar androconia (R.L. Rutowski, 1983, Anim. Behav. 31: 985-989).

Similar species

Eurema spp. .