The Goatweed Leafwing butterfly has a wingspan of 2.5 to 3 inches (5.5-7.5 cm). Males and females are sexually dimorphic. On the dorsal side the females are orange and more heavily marked with a yellowish submarginal band. The males are redder on the upperside but more plain. Both sexes are gray and marked like leaves on the underside. The forewing is sharply angled and the hindwing is tailed. In the summer form the forewing apex is less hooked and the hindwing tail is shorter than in the winter form. The caterpillar is approximately 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) long when full grown. The body is pale green and covered with many small, pinkish-orange tubercules, and the head is also green with larger tubercules.
The Goatweed Leafwing is an uncommon butterfly in Nebraska. The first Goatweed Leafwing to be seen in Fontenelle Forest was photographed on April 20, 2019 after two days of strong southerly winds. It occurs from southeast Arizona east to Florida and north to South Carolina in the east and north to Ohio and Nebraska in the midwest. They are most common in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Larval hosts are various species of plants in the genus Croton. Adults feed on decaying fruit, dung and sap. The larvae often pupate on the underside of leaves of the host plant.
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