Tails are edged with black and filled with yellow. Females lay single eggs on host leaves and twigs.
Caterpillars resemble bird droppings and eat leaves and young shoots.
Nectar from lantana, azalea, bougainvilla, bouncing Bet, dame's rocket, goldenrod, Japanese honeysuckle, and swamp milkweed. Throughout eastern North America west to the Rocky Mountains, south through the desert Southwest to South America. A rare stray to Quebec, North Dakota, and Bermuda. G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery. Photographs and text copyright by and adapted from US Geological Survey's Butterflies of North America.