Dainty Sulphur

Another of the tiny butterflies found roaming the low growing flowers of grassy areas is the Dainty Sulphur (Nathalis iole). These tiny butterflies are fast moving and tend to fly within just a few inches of the ground.

This butterfly is the smallest member of the pierid family of whites and sulphurs. The appearance of the Dainty Sulphur is highly variable with some individuals being almost white in color and winter form butterflies often sowing a much brighter yellow color.

Dainty Sulphurs host on beggars ticks (Bidens ssp.) such as Spanish needles (Bidens alba), common chickweed (Stellaria media), Indian Chickweed (Mollugo verticillata)and a few other species of plants. These butterflies are a very common sight in almost all of Peninsular Florida.

Although considered a native Florida species, early collections of butterflies from the state lack specimens of the Dainty Sulphur and show that this species may have migrated into peninsular Florida sometimes around the 1920’s. For more on this topic check out this article: Nathalis iole (Pieridae) in the Southeastern United States and the Bahamas by Harry Clench from the Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society Volume 30, Number 2