Bug FAQSouthern Pearly-eye
Enodia portlandia · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae
The southern pearly-eye is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family, also called Lethe portlandia or Portland pearlyeye. Adults sip sap, rotting fruit, carrion and dung, while the caterpillars eat the leaves of the cane grass Arundinaria tecta.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
This species is known as the southern pearly-eye, Portland pearlyeye, or simply pearly eye, and belongs to the butterfly family Nymphalidae.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Its wingspan ranges from about 56 to 70 millimetres.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adult butterflies feed on tree sap, decaying fruit, carrion and animal dung. The larvae feed on the leaves of the native cane grass Arundinaria tecta.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The species spends the winter months in the larval stage.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range includes the United States, specifically from eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas across the southeastern region.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 30 of 51 states and DC. Most records: South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Alabama.
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
What do adult southern pearly-eyes eat?
Adults sip sap, rotting fruit, carrion and dung.
Source: Wikipedia
What do the caterpillars of the southern pearly-eye feed on?
The larvae eat the leaves of Arundinaria tecta, a type of cane grass.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Nymphalidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethe_portlandia
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.