Scientific Name: Atlides halesus
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Diet: Feed on nectar from mesquite and mint flowers.  Caterpillars feed on only on mistletoe leaves.
Vegetation Association: Desert broom, mesquite and mistletoe. The host plant is mistletoe.
Predators: Pupa are parasitized by parasitic wasp larva and tachinid fly larva.
Life Stages: Complete metamorphosis; egg, larva, pupa, adult. Eggs are laid on mistletoe.
Notes: Young caterpillars feed and shed their skin, or molt. The final molt produces the pupa, and then the butterfly rests.  Once free of the chrysalis, fluid from its body is pumped into its wings, the wings then are allowed to dry before it flies away to look for food and a mate.

Photo: Taken at Coon Bluff in 2007.

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