Four-spotted Sailor

Dynamine postverta · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Four-spotted Sailor
Photo: John Rosford, CC BY

The four-spotted sailor, also called Dynamine postverta or Mylitta greenwing, is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. Its range covers most tropical and subtropical parts of Central and South America, from Mexico down to Argentina and Paraguay. The caterpillars feed on plants of the genus Dalechampia.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Larvae feed on plants in the Dalechampia genus.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 1 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Four-spotted Sailor photo 3
Photo: John Rosford, CC BY
Four-spotted Sailor photo 4
Photo: John Rosford, CC BY
Four-spotted Sailor photo 5
Photo: John Rosford, CC BY
Four-spotted Sailor photo 6
Photo: John Rosford, CC BY

Same family (Nymphalidae)

MonarchMonarchDanaus plexippusRed AdmiralRed AdmiralVanessa atalantaPainted LadyPainted LadyVanessa carduiGulf FritillaryGulf FritillaryDione vanillaeSpeckled WoodSpeckled WoodPararge aegeriaEuropean Peacock ButterflyEuropean Peacock ButterflyAglais io

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamine_postverta

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.