Puerto Rican Harlequin Butterfly

The Puerto Rican harlequin butterfly (quebradillana) is a medium size butterfly. The species wingspan is less than 3 inches wide and is characterized by its orange, brownish-black and beige coloration patterns. The male's abdomen is brownish-black on the dorsal side and has orange and brown bands on the ventral side. The female's abdomen is brownish-black with white bands. The chrysalis (pupa from which the butterfly (adult, or imago) emerges) of the butterfly is black, with orange and white dashes, and yellow pimples. Chrysalis size is slightly bigger than 1 inch. The caterpillar (larva) is dark orange with a brownish-black to black, thin sub-lateral line, over a thin line of white intermittent dots crossing the body from the head to anal plate. The larva is less than 0.19 inch in first instar (growth stage between molts) and about 2 inches in the fifth instar. The eggs of the "quebradillana" are greenish oily spheres, with a yellowish crown.