Pollinator
Dainty sulphur
Nathalis iole
North America's smallest sulphur, a scrap of yellow low to the ground.
- Family
- Pieridae (whites and sulphurs)
- Wingspan
- 0.75 to 1.25 in (2 to 3.2 cm)
- Flight season
- Much of the year in the South; migrates north
- Range
- Southern United States, wandering north
- Caterpillar food
- Low composites (beggarticks, sneezeweed)
- Conservation
- Secure and widespread
The dainty sulphur is the smallest of the North American sulphurs, a tiny wash of yellow and black that flies close to the ground in open, sunny places.
Unable to survive hard winters, it recolonizes the north each year from the South, sometimes reaching far into the plains.
Caterpillars feed on low composites such as beggarticks and sneezeweed.
Plants for the dainty sulphur
1 caterpillar host plant and 38 documented nectar plants. Pick a role, then narrow with the filters below.
38 plants
Nectar
1 of 2 Common Sunflower Helianthus annuus Nectar
1 of 3 Eastern redbud Cercis canadensis Nectar
1 of 2 American century plant Agave americana Nectar
1 of 2 American trumpet vine Campsis radicans Nectar
Yellow trumpet flower Tecoma stans Nectar
1 of 3 Wild bergamot Monarda fistulosa Nectar
1 of 3 Tall blue wild indigo Baptisia australis Nectar
1 of 3 Firewheel Gaillardia pulchella Nectar
1 of 2 American plum Prunus americana Nectar
1 of 2 Broadleaf arrowhead Sagittaria latifolia Nectar
1 of 3 False sunflower Heliopsis helianthoides Nectar
1 of 2 New England aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae Nectar
1 of 2 Blue vervain Verbena hastata Nectar
1 of 2 Turkey tangle frogfruit Phyla nodiflora Nectar
1 of 2 Autumn sage Salvia greggii Nectar
1 of 2 Snow-on-the-mountain Euphorbia marginata Nectar
1 of 3 Plains coreopsis Coreopsis tinctoria Nectar
1 of 3 Golden currant Ribes aureum Nectar
1 of 2 Showy milkweed Asclepias speciosa Nectar
1 of 2 Golden Alexanders Zizia aurea Host + Nectar
1 of 2 Common sneezeweed Helenium autumnale Nectar
Banana Yucca Yucca baccata Nectar
1 of 3 Maximilian sunflower Helianthus maximiliani Nectar
1 of 2 Coulter's matilija poppy Romneya coulteri Nectar
1 of 2 Carolina rose Rosa carolina Nectar
1 of 4 Nodding onion Allium cernuum Nectar
1 of 2 Manyflower marshpennywort Hydrocotyle umbellata Nectar
1 of 2 Aspen fleabane Erigeron speciosus Nectar
1 of 2 Desert agave Agave deserti Nectar
1 of 2 Field goldenrod Solidago nemoralis Nectar
1 of 3 Sticky geranium Geranium viscosissimum Nectar
1 of 2 Rocky Mountain zinnia Zinnia grandiflora Nectar
1 of 2 Whorled Coreopsis Coreopsis verticillata Nectar
Missouri goldenrod Solidago missouriensis Nectar
1 of 2 Red dome blanketflower Gaillardia pinnatifida Nectar
1 of 2 Lemonscent Pectis angustifolia Nectar
Hollyleaved barberry Mahonia aquifolium Nectar
Lyre-leaf greeneyes Berlandiera lyrata
1 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 31 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 41 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 2No plants match those filters.
Sources
- Butterflies and Moths of North America ↗
- iNaturalist ↗
- Plant associations from GloBI flower-visit records and NPIN larval-host data. Butterfly photographs via iNaturalist (CC BY).