Green-backed Ruby-eye (Perichares philetes [Gmelen])
Wing span: 1 1/2 - 1 11/16 inches (3.9 - 4.3 cm).
Identification: Top surface of the thorax is iridescent green. Wings are dark brown; fringes are checkered black and white. Upperside of forewing has transparent pale yellow spots; male with a curved gray stigma. Underside of hindwing is mottled dark brown, purple, and gray.
Life history: Females lay eggs on both sides of grass leaves; caterpillars eat leaves.
Flight: November-December in South Texas; many broods from December-January in Mexico.
Caterpillar hosts: Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), bamboo, and other grasses.
Adult food: Flower nectar.
Habitat: Flower gardens in Texas; fields and forest edges in the tropics.
Range: Paraguay north through Central America and the West Indies to northern Mexico. A periodic stray to the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas.
