About Asterocampa clyton (Boisduval & Le Conte, 1833)
Asterocampa clyton, commonly known as the tawny emperor, is a species of brush-footed butterfly. It is native to North America, where it is especially found in the eastern half of the continent, ranging from Canada to northern Mexico. The tawny emperor is often confused with the very closely related hackberry emperor, another species in the genus Asterocampa. The two can be distinguished by features of the hackberry emperor: the hackberry emperor has white spots near the tip of its forewing and a black eyespot lower along the edge of its forewing, which the tawny emperor does not have. The upperside of the tawny emperor's wings is mostly dark brown. Its forewing is orange-brown with pale orange-yellow spots. The underside of the wings is mainly gray brown, and the forewing has some black and pale yellowish markings. The tawny emperor's wingspan measures 2 to 2.6 inches (51 to 66 mm). A dark morph of this species is regionally common, which has nearly uniformly dark hind wings. Tawny emperor butterflies can be seen flying near houses, gravel driveways, bodies of water, muddy places, gardens, and woodlands. The only host plant for this species is hackberry trees. Adult tawny emperors feed on carrion, plant sap, and dung, and they rarely land on flowers. Female tawny emperors lay clusters of green eggs. The larva of the species is green with yellow, white, or greenish stripes.
