Ministrymon leda
Leda Ministreak
Ministrymon leda is a small desert butterfly often found taking nectar in habitats where the host mesquite does well (and sometimes catclaw acacia - Senegalia greggii). The mesquites include Prosopis glandulosa (honey mesquite), P. velutina (velvet mesquite, a non-native), and probably P. pubescens (screwbean mesquite). There are two seasonal forms that are different enough to have fooled some lepidopterists into thinking there were two species involved: leda and ines. The ines form is shown first below. Note the two tails, one long, one short.
The ines form of Ministrymon leda from Montosa Canyon, Santa Rita Mountains, southeast of Tucson. October 15, 2019.
Ministrymon leda from Scissors Crossing at Anza-Borrego, September 28, 2013.
Ministrymon leda. This and the one below are from Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Arizona, September 25, 2007.
Another Leda ministreak from the same day at the Arboretum, east of Phoenix, in Arizona. This one has the earlier-season coloration despite the September date. They are said to fly from mid-April into December, but they seem far more common from later in the summer through the autumn months.
William Henry Edwards named this butterfly in 1882, in the journal Papilio.
©Dennis Walker
