Phoebis agarithe, the Orange Giant Sulphur or Large Orange Sulphur, is a butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 in the Pieridae

Pieridae

The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...

 family. It is found from Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 north to southern Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and peninsular Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. Rare strays can be found up to Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, and New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. The habitat consists of open, tropical lowlands including gardens, pastures, road edges, trails and parks.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is 57 millimetre. The upper surface of the males is bright orange without markings. There are two female forms, a pink-white and yellow-orange form. The underside of the forewings of both sexes has a straight submarginal line. There are two seasonal forms: the winter form has heavier underside markings. Adults are on wing from August to September in southern Texas and all year round in the tropics. They feed on flower nectar of a lantana, shepherd's needle, bougainvilla, rose periwinkle, turk's cap and hibiscus.

The larvae feed on fresh leaves of Pithecellobium

Pithecellobium

Pithecellobium is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek words πιθηκος , meaning "ape" or "monkey," and ελλοβιον , meaning "earring," which refers to the coiled shape of the seedpods.Delimitation to the closely related Albizia is a matter...

 and Inga

Inga

Inga is a genus of small tropical, tough-leaved, nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs, subfamily Mimosoideae. Ingas leaves are pinnate, and flowers are generally white...

species.

Subspecies

The following subspecies are recognised:

• Phoebis agarithe agarithe (Texas, Mexico)
• Phoebis agarithe fischeri (H. Edwards, 1883) (Baja California)
• Phoebis agarithe maxima (Neumoegen, 1891) (Florida)
• Phoebis agarithe antillia Brown, 1929 (Haiti)
• Phoebis agarithe pupillata Dillon, 1947 (Dominica)
• Phoebis agarithe tumbesina Lamas, 1981 (Peru)