Bug FAQMimosa Yellow
Pyrisitia nise · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Pieridae
Also called: Blacktip Sulphur, Jamaican Sulphur, Mimosa Sulphur
Mimosa Yellow butterflies have a wingspan of about 3 to 5 cm and both males and females are bright yellow with narrow black edges on the forewings. They live on brushy woodland edges from Argentina up through the Texas Gulf Coast, central and southern Florida, and as far north as the Tennessee Valley, flying most of the year in tropical areas.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Both sexes are yellow and the forewing tops have thin black borders along the outer edge.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
The wingspan ranges from 29 to 51 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are found at the edges of brushy woodlands.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adult butterflies sip nectar from flowers. The caterpillars feed on the plant Mimosa pudica.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Their flight season matches the same periods: May-August in southern Florida, September-November in southern Texas, and continuously in the tropics.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
In the United States they occur along the Texas Gulf Coast, throughout central and southern Florida, and up to the Tennessee Valley, extending south through Argentina.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 9 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where can I find them?
Look for them on brushy woodland edges from Texas and Florida up to the Tennessee Valley and further south into Argentina.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Pieridae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrisitia_nise
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.