Dingy Purplewing (Eunica monima [Stoll])
Wing span: 1 7/8 - 2 inches (4.8 - 5.1 cm).
Identification: Upperside is brown-black with a slight purple sheen. Dull, blurry white spots on forewing apex. Underside is brownish gray with no distinct pattern.
Life history: Adults perch on tree trunks with their wings closed, opening them only in flight. Females lay eggs singly on young leaves, and the caterpillars eat leaves.
Flight: Many broods all year in Mexico, June-September in South Texas, May-December in southern Florida.
Caterpillar hosts: Tropical tree gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba) and tropical prickly ash (Zanthoxylum pentamon).
Adult food: Rotting fruit, dung, and sap; seldom flower nectar.
Habitat: Subtropical river forests, hardwood hammocks.
Range: Venezuela north through Central America to Mexico and the West Indies. Periodic immigrant to southern Florida (where it may be an occasional resident), South Texas, and southern Arizona.
