(SPEYERIA CYBELE)
The Great Spangled Fritillary reproduces only once, laying its eggs near the base of violets (Viola spp.) in the summer. The caterpillars hatch, eat their eggshells, and then hibernate all winter. They wake up in the spring to eat young violet leaves at night and hide on the ground under the plant during the day. Easily approached while it is busy sipping nectar, the adult butterfly is especially fond of our milkweeds and coneflowers. This largest of the fritillary butterflies has metallic silver spots on the underside of its wings.
(STRYMON MELINUS)
Gray Hairstreak females lay their tiny green eggs on the flowers of clover, bean, hibiscus, cotton, and many other host plants. The caterpillar bores into fruits and seeds, and it spends the winter as a chrysalis. The skinny tails of the butterfly look and move like an extra pair of antennae, which may fool predators into biting the wrong end, thus saving the butterfly’s head. The Hairstreak almost always perches with its wings closed to eat, so it is very difficult to photograph with its wings open. But we got lucky! These photographs show the details of this beautiful butterfly, which is about the size of a nickel.
(MEGISTO CYMELA)
The Wood-Satyr is most commonly found at the edges of shady woodlands and meadows. It flies low among the grasses and shrubs and dances around from plant to plant, seldom resting in one spot for very long. It lays its green eggs singly on various grasses. The Little Wood-Satyr caterpillar is brown with white stripes. It can be found in both open fields and deep woods. The adult butterfly is not interested in flowers but feeds instead on tree sap, animal dung, and rotting fruit.
(ASTEROCAMPA CELTIS)
The Hackberry Emperor loves to eat oozing, sticky tree sap. It may not visit your flower garden unless you bribe it with some very rotten fruit, one of its favorite foods. It is also attracted to animal dung and the salt on the skin of a sweaty gardener. The caterpillar eats the leaves of hackberry trees (Celtis spp.). The Hackberry Emperor can be distinguished from its close cousin the Tawny Emperor (page 138) by the white dots and eyespot on the top of its upper wings. The Tawny Emperor lacks these features.
(NYMPHALIS ANTIOPA)
Unlike other short-lived butterflies, the Mourning Cloak is able to survive for almost a year. The females lay their eggs in clusters on the branches of willows or other trees and shrubs. When they hatch out, the caterpillars eat together as a group on the leaves. The adult butterflies feed on rotting fruit, tree sap, nectar from fruit tree blossoms, and animal droppings. They rest during the hot summer months in a state of aestivation, then start feeding again in the fall. They spend the winter as unmated adult butterflies, hiding under loose tree bark or in woodpiles until spring, when they mate.
(ASTEROCAMPA CLYTON)
The female Tawny Emperor lays her eggs in clusters on hackberry trees (Celtis spp.). She can lay hundreds of eggs during her short life span. Often this butterfly can be seen with the Hackberry Emperor (page 137), sipping leaking tree sap; it also dines on carrion, dung, rotting fruit, and, rarely, on flower nectar. The caterpillars lie flat in a silk mat on the underside of a leaf when they’re not eating. They spend the winter hiding in a group among dead, curled leaves.
(EVERES COMYNTAS)
The female lays her eggs in the flowers of plants in the Pea family, such as alfalfa, clover, and bean, and the caterpillars hibernate inside the seedpods during the winter months. What a beautiful touch of blue this butterfly adds to your garden.
(CELASTRINA LADON NEGLECTA)
This is the summer form of the Spring Azure butterfly. The caterpillars eat the flowers of dogwood trees, viburnum shrubs, and blueberry plants. To bribe ants into protecting them from other insects, the caterpillars secrete honeydew from a special gland.
(LIBYTHEANA CARINENTA)
The American Snout butterfly gets its name from its very long palps (furry parts of its face), which look like a big nose of sorts. This woodland butterfly lays its eggs on the young leaves of hackberry trees. From the eggs hatch green caterpillars with white stripes along both sides of their bodies. The adult butterfly has a rapid, erratic flight pattern and will sip nectar from flowers and juices from old fruit.
(CERCYONIS PEGALA)
This little butterfly visits our gardens occasionally. It usually stays at the edges of woodlands and in overgrown fields. The caterpillars eat grasses instead of plant leaves, and the adults sip flower nectar and the juices of rotting fruit. The common Wood-Nymph darts around with quick spurts of flight from plant to plant. We have to be extra stealthy to sneak up on this wary butterfly.
(ENODIA ANTHEDON)
The Northern Pearly-Eye butterfly is usually found in woods and meadows near a water source. Various grasses serve as host plants for its eggs. It flies close to the ground and often lands on dirt trails and tree trunks. Northern Pearly-Eye caterpillars can be either pale green or light brown, with tiny red-tipped horns on their head. Look for them in wooded areas near streams.
SKIPPERS TEND TO ACT like butterflies but often look more like moths. There are more than 200 species of skippers in North America, and it can be very tricky to identify them correctly, so here are some examples of those most likely to appear in your backyard butterfly habitat.
You’ll recognize a skipper by its short, thick body and small antennae, each ending in a little hook. On other butterflies the tip of each antenna is rounded. Skippers have a very quick, erratic flight pattern.
Here’s a small sampling of the wide variety of skippers found in North America.
If you look at all the world’s species of lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) as a group, you’ll find that almost 90 percent are moths. Butterflies only seem to be more abundant because they fly during the day, when we can see them.
Here are some ways to tell the difference between a moth and a butterfly.
As a general rule, moths fly at night and butterflies are active during the daylight hours.
Moths tend to have thick, fuzzy, heavy bodies.
Moths, especially males, have antennae that look like feathers.
Caterpillars of the large moths often eat for many weeks or even for months, unlike butterfly caterpillars, which eat for 10 to 15 days.
Some moth caterpillars have irritating or stinging hairs and must be handled with great care.
Moth chrysalises are wrapped in a cocoon of silk threads.
(FROM TOP) Female Polyphemus moth; male Cecropia moth; female Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly.