Orange-barred sulphur
Phoebis philea
The orange-barred sulphur is a big, bright yellow butterfly from the Americas. It has an orange bar on its front wings. It often flies together with big groups of other yellow butterflies.
Lives in
The Americas, from the southern United States to Brazil and the Caribbean, in gardens, fields and forest edges
Wingspan
6.8 to 8 cm (2.7 to 3.1 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The butterflies drink nectar, especially from red flowers. The caterpillars eat Cassia plants.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🧱wings as wide as 2.5 toy building bricks⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 22 seconds
How big is Orange-barred sulphur compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Orange-barred sulphur about 17 km/h (11 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its wings are about 7 to 8 centimetres from tip to tip.
2
It likes to drink nectar from red flowers.
3
In Florida there are two or three families of them every year.
4
It often gathers in big crowds together with other kinds of sulphur butterflies.
you asked
Most asked questions about Orange-barred sulphur
?What does the orange-barred sulphur eat?
It drinks nectar, mostly from red flowers. Its caterpillars eat Cassia plants.
?How big is the orange-barred sulphur?
Its wings are about 68 to 80 millimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Phoebis philea
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1763
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Pieridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Pieridae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Phoebis philea (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 Greg Hume. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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