Neon colored butterfly
Location: Not sure
July 16, 2011 12:38 pm
Hey Bugman,
I once saw a picture of the most gorgeous butterfly on this site. It was black with neon colored blotches on its wings. I think its had neon pink and/or blue.
Can you please tell me the name of this butterfly, its absolutely gorgeous and I wanted to show my girlfriend.
Signature: Silver

88 Butterfly

Hi Silver,
The very first image we thought of was a photo of a specimen from a vintage insect collection that we posted that was identified as one of the 88 Butterflies in the genus Callicore.  Here is another image from our archives of the closed winged view of another living member of the genus.  We would suggest that you search our Butterfly archives if that is not the image you recalled.  You can scroll down our home page and click on the butterfly link in the column on the left side of the page.

0   I like This

11 Monarchs in a row
Location: Naperville, IL
July 1, 2011 12:16 pm
Dear Daniel~
I wanted to show you this photo for the sheer fun of it. I raise Monarch butterflies each summer – mainly by collecting the eggs that female Monarchs lay on the milkweed I grow in my own yard. Last summer, we released over 200 butterflies with a very small mortality/sickness rate – about 5%. On the days that we have butterflies eclose, I like to pose them for photos on flora around my yard. They will typically ”hang out” for a few hours after drying their wings, allowing me to get some fun shots. One day last summer (July 2010), we had 11 adults eclose on the same morning, and knowing that I couldn’t possibly place them all on one flower, we got the idea to place them on a string tied between two chairs. (We do this anyway on the odd occasion that a newly-eclosed butterfly loses grip on its chrysalis and falls). Eventually, of course, they all flew away, but they remained on the line like this for quite a while. My condolences on the p assing of Lefty. Best regards,
Signature: Dori Eldridge

Monarchs On Line

Hi again Dori,
Thanks so much for sending this charming documentation.

Butterfly or Moth
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
June 8, 2011 8:19 pm
Hi. This evening I saw what I thought was a butterfly in my yard, but after looking at pictures and trying to identify it, now I’m not sure what it is. It seems to have two ”legs” that I do not see on any of the butterfly or moth photos online.
This sighting occurred in St. Petersburg, FL at approximately 6:15 p.m. on June 8. It landed on one of my potted plants and stayed there (slowly ’flapping’ its wings) for a minute or two.
Signature: Stephanie

Red Admiral

Dear Stephanie,
We wonder if perhaps you are confusing the antennae for legs.  This is a Red Admiral Butterfly, and it has a coast to coast distribution in North America, and it is also found in Eurasia and in Russia, according to Vladimir Nabokov, it is known as the Butterfly of Doom because in 1881, the year Tsar Alexander II was assassinated,  great numbers of Red Admirals migrated.

Hi, Daniel.
Thank you so much for the identification!  I’ve never heard of a Red Admiral but I feel blessed to have seen this beautiful creature in my yard.
The ‘legs’ I referred to are shown below in my photo (with the arrows).  None of the photos of butterflies that I viewed online showed these ‘protrusions.’  (see example on the right.)  My butterfly looks like a little bat!  I’m thinking maybe there is another set of lower wings that aren’t fully extended …
Thanks again for your help.
Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,
Your butterfly has damaged wings, and the vestiges of the wings were mistakenly identified as legs.

0   I like This

Las Trampas Regional Wilderness CA
Location: Las Trampas Regional Wilderness San Ramon CA
May 29, 2011 11:10 am
Greetings!
Yesterday afternoon on a lovely hike at Las Trampas Regional Wilderness in San Ramon CA we happened upon a beautiful butterfly perched atop a thistle.
I’ve combed my Laws Field guide and did several searches onilne with no luck. Any guidance you can provide is greatly appreciated!
I took two photos one of the top and I found another on the other side of the trail where I was able to photograph the underside. Thank you!!!
Signature: Cheers! Andie

Variable Checkerspot

Dear Andie,
Your photographs arrived at a very interesting time.  Just yesterday we did a powerpoint slide presentation of Southern California insects at the Theodore Payne Foundation, and there were some gaps in the species represented in our images.  We had no photos of Checkerspots from California, and we believe your photo represents a Variable Checkerspot, Euphydryas chalcedona.  We used Jeffrey Glassberg’s book, Butterflies Through Binoculars, The West (see Amazon) for the identification, and we strongly recommend it as a choice book for people who want to identify butterflies in western North America.  As the common name implies, there is variability in the coloration and markings.  Most individuals have three bright orange patches on the leading surface of the forewings, which your individual lacks.  There is a matching photo in Glassberg’s book that is listed as being from San Mateo County.  Your sighting was in nearby Contra Costa County.  In your individual and in the one illustrated in the book, the bright orange patches are black.  This is undoubtedly a regional variation.  Since this information is not available online to our knowledge, we are going to quote liberally from Glassberg’s book:  “Extremely variable.  Varies from primarily red-orange above, to primarily black, to very white and everything in between.  … Many, but ot all, populations of Variable Checkerspots have at least some white spots on the abdomen, set off-center.  … Many, but not all populations of Variable Checkerspots have luminous yellow antennal cluts, with little if any black at their base.  … Habitat:  Many open situations, including mountain meadows, desert canyons and high elevation barrens.  Abundance:  C-A.  March-May in southern California.  , southeastern Arizona – southwestern New Mexico (hermosa);  mainly May-July elsewhere.  Food:  Beardtongues, Indian Paintbrushes, snowberries (colon) , and others.”  You may view BugGuide for additional images of the Variable Checkerspot.  Thank you for supplying our archive with your excellent images of an underrepresented species.

Variable Checkerspot

Hi Daniel,
Thank you so much for your quick reply and for the information provided as well as the BugGuide website (which is now bookmarked). I’m super excited to have managed a photograph of such an underrepresented species! What luck! My husband is the one with the phenomenal sighting and I am ever grateful to my recent mother’s day present “Big Betty” and her amazing zoom lens!
I’m so happy to supply your archive! I clicked the link for your FB page as well so I’ll be happy to post there too. Yay nature!!!
All the best,
Andie

Dear Andie,
Your enthusiasm is positively infectious.

1   I like This