Scientific Name: Asterocampa leilia
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Diet: Caterpillar host plant is the Hackberry,  Celtis padilla; adults feed on sap, dung and occasionally flower nectar.
Vegetation Association: Celtis Padilla.  Habitat is hackberry groves in chaparral and desert canyons and arroyos.
Predators:
Life Stages: Complete metamorphosis; egg, larva, pupa, adult.
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. Males perch for most of the day and watch for females, and defend mating territories.

Photo:  Photo taken at Brown's Ranch on April 21, 2003.

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