Appias drusilla, Florida White

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Freshly emerged adult female

Description: 25-35 mm. Males are almost perfectly white on both the dorsal and ventral sides. Females have a black outer margin and forewings can have a yellowish hew. 

Habitat and Distribution: Tropical hardwood hammocks of the Keys and southernmost mainland. They also occur throughout the Caribbean. They have been reported from most of the Keys

Host Plant: limber caper (Capparis flexuosa) 

Natural History: Searching for this butterfly can prove difficult. Populations fluxuate regularly. Although they have been reported in all months of the Keys, actually finding them is unreliable as they can be abundant and then a few weeks later in the same month, be nowhere to be found. I've found them as far north as Boca Raton (Palm Beach County) but again, very inconsistently.

egg

Final instar larvae

Chrysalis

Freshly emerged adult male

Freshly emerged adult male

Freshly emerged adult male

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