Pale-banded crescent
Anthanassa tulcis
The pale-banded crescent is a small butterfly from the warm Americas. In the tropics you can see it flying all year round. Some scientists think it is its own species, others think it is a kind of Cuban crescent.
Lives in
From Argentina through Central America and Mexico to southern Texas
Wingspan
3.2 to 3.5 cm (1.3 to 1.4 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The grown-ups drink nectar from flowers. The caterpillars eat Dicliptera and Ruellia plants.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 6 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 34 seconds
How big is Pale-banded crescent compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Pale-banded crescent about 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
In southern Texas it flies from May to November.
2
Sometimes a few wander as far as western Texas and southern Arizona.
3
Its family has several cousins that live in Florida, the Caribbean and South America.
you asked
Most asked questions about Pale-banded crescent
?Where does the pale-banded crescent live?
From Argentina up through Central America and Mexico to southern Texas.
?How big is the pale-banded crescent?
Its wings are about 3 to 3.5 centimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Anthanassa tulcis
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Tulcis crescent, Cuban crescent
Where the facts come from
- Anthanassa frisia (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Monarch butterfly
Peacock butterfly
Blue morpho
Old World swallowtail
Small white
Eastern tiger swallowtail
Giant forest ant
Mango stem borer
Trinidad chevron tarantula
Actaeon beetle
Venezuelan suntiger tarantula
Leafcutter ant.JPG){kind=link}