File:Brazil Pantanal Dryadula Phaétusa male Underside (17224335081).jpg

Dryadula phaetusa is a large species living from USA South to Brasil Southern aréa , Paraguay, Argentina North ,

Member of Nymphalidaé/Héliconiinaé family

Discover by Carl Von Linné ( Linnaéus) 1758 Wingspan : 80 to 89 mm This spécie have got any variable form acording the life's aréa

Avant la saison de l'accouplement, les mâles de cette espèce se rassemblent par centaines sur des plaques de sol humide qui contiennent des sels minéraux. Quand ils ne peuvent pas trouver de tels dépôts, les insectes visitent divers animaux pour boire les sécrétions salées de leur peau et de leur narines. Dryadula phaetusa réside dans les champs, au bord des routes, le long des cours d'eau.

The Dryadula is a monotypic genus of the butterfly family Nymphalidae. Its single species is the Dryadula phaetusa, known as the Banded Orange Heliconian, Banded Orange, or Orange Tiger. The Banded Orange Heliconian is native from Brazil to central Mexico, and in summer it can be found rarely as far north as central Kansas. Its wingspan ranges from 86 to 89 mm, and it is colored a bright orange with thick black stripes in males, and a duller orange with fuzzier black stripes in females.

It feeds primarily on the nectar of flowers and bird droppings, and its caterpillar feeds on passion vines including Passiflora tetrastylis. It is generally found in lowland tropical fields and valleys.

This species is somewhat unpalatable to birds and belongs to the "orange" Batesian mimicry complex.[