BugFiles Pictures: Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae), 1 by paulatc

paulatc wrote:
I was just clicking through the photos of cloudless sulphurs, and find your photo outstanding! Here at my home in western NC, I am visited frequently by these lovely butterflies. They are such "flitterers" that they are sometimes hard to catch perching still long enough to get a decent shot! That's true of most of the sulphurs. Also, since they are generally closed wing, seeing the topsides of their wings can be a challenge! I got a shot of a type of sulphur, with wings open, but have been unable to identify it - it might even be a female of the same variety, or a male cloudless - but I was surprised at the design on the topwings! Do you have any photos of sulphurs (any variety) with open wings? I've posted the photo of the open-winged, along with what I believe is the same one with wings closed (along with a tattered swallowtail!) - let me know what you think it is!

I have found that the back-lit sulphurs show the topwing design fairly clearly - even with closed wings. However, the front-lit shots, like yours, and the one of mine in next box on the wilted petunia bloom hide it - if that is indeed what my opened-wing sulphur is!