Gray Ministreak (Ministrymon azia [Hewitson])
Wing span: 5/8 - 15/16 inch (1.6 - 2.4 cm).
Identification: Tiny; tailed. Wings gray; underside hindwing with narrow postmedian line of orange bordered with white.
Life history: Females lay eggs on flower buds, which the caterpillars eat.
Flight: March-September in Florida and Texas; throughout the year in most of the tropics.
Caterpillar hosts: Mimosa malacophylla in lower Rio Grande Valley; Leucaena leucocephala and wild tamarind (Lysiloma bahamensis) in southern Florida.
Adult food: Seen nectaring at Leucaena leucocephala, Melilotus alba, Cynoglossum amabile, Bidens alba, Turnera ulmifolia, Mimosa pudica, and Acacia species.
Habitat: Subtropical thorn scrub.
Range: Brazil through Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to South Texas, southern Florida, and the Keys.
