butterfly question
hi bugman,
i’m sending two photo’s of a b-fly i saw this afternoon and i thought for sure it was a california tortoiseshell. the dorsal view isn’t a good angle to really id it and the ventral view is very clear but when i looked it up in my books and on the i-net none of the ventral views look like my b-fly. so what do you think it is? his dorsal view looked so california tortoiseshell. can they look different depending on male or female? i saw it not far from nederland colorado, west of boulder in the mountains. and it is july 14 today. i so appreciate your help when you have the time. and i’m going looking for that b-fly again tomorrow to see if i can get a better photo of the dorsal side. thanks for all your help past and present. i just adore your web site, i’m on it all the time. cheers,
venice kelly
hi Venice,
Though your dorsal view is at an angle, enough of the upper wings show to incline us to agree that this is a Calfornia Tortoiseshell, Nymphalis californica, which despite its name, also ranges in most of the Pacific Northwest, and into Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, as well as some adjacent states. If you get a better dorsal view, please send it to our attention.
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Posted 14 July 2008
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Weidemeyer’s or White
We had the great pleasure of watching our caterpillar (wish I took a picture but it looked like bird droppings with horns) turn into a chrysalis on July 4th. Today (July 10th) the pictured beauty emerged. I found two butterflies on your website that look like ours…The Weidemeyer’s Admiral and the White Admiral. I can’t seem to tell the difference in all these photos…can you? The caterpillar was found on a choke cherry tree in Big Sky, Montana. Thank you,
Big Sky Bug Kids
Dear Big Sky Bug Kids,
We are quite pleased to hear your metamorphosis was successful. This is a Weidemeyer’s Admiral, Limenitis weidemeyerii. While the dorsal view is quite similar to a White Admiral, the underside is distinctly different. Including both views with your letter will help ensure that future readers can make a proper identification.
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Posted 14 July 2008
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Green Fruit Beetle or Fig Eater, Cotinus mutabilis and friend
Hello,
My husband stuck a banana in our wisteria vine in Alpine, Texas and it attracted these beautiful beetles. I think they are the Green Fruit Beetle or Fig Eater, Cotinus mutabilis (as found on your website). I’m curious to know what the butterfly is. Cheers,
Karen
Hi Karen,
We actually believe your beetles are another species in the genus Cotinis, the Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida. BugGuide has a nice example of the possible variations in the coloration. Both Cotinis nitida and Cotinis mutabilis are called Fig-Eaters as well. The butterfly is one of the Emperor Butterflies in the genus, Asterocampa, probably the Empress Leilia, Asterocampa leilia. You can compare your photo to the other Emperors in the genus Asterocampa on BugGuide as well.
Appalachian Brown butterfly? 1 of 3
Bugman,
Thought I was taking a picture of an Appalachian Brown butterfly in the mountains of Georgia but when I began to research it, I notice there were only three eyespots on the underside of the forewings instead of the usual four. And there seemed to be no spots on the upperside of the forewings. Could this be the difference between the male and female? I don’t know. I will send you several photos in separate emails so you can see. These photos are untouched. Looking forward to you answer.
Patrick Crone
Hi Patrick,
We agree that this is an Appalacian Brown, Satyrodes appalachia. The Satyr butterfies often have variations and it is possible that the one eyespots is so faint as to be undetectable. We don’t believe this is any indication of the sex of the butterfly.
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Posted 07 July 2008
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Whats that butterfly
Mr Bugman,
I found this butterfly lying on the plant floor. They tend to die when they fly into a paint plant. It was near shipping and receiving so it might have come off of a truck from anywhere. Found in Southfield Michigan.
Marianne
Hi Marianne,
This lovely butterfly is a Common Wood Nymph, Cercyonis pegala. It is an elegantly marked, but not very flashy butterfly. We doubt it came in on a truck. If there are meadows near your plant, especially meadows surrounded with woodland, that is the perfect habitat for the Common Wood Nymph. BugGuide describes the habitat as being: “Large, sunny, grassy areas including prairies, open meadows, bogs, and old fields” and also notes that the coloration and markings are quite variable geographically. Caterpillars feed on grasses and adults feed on rotting fruit as well as flower nectar.
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Posted 07 July 2008
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Butterfly in Hendrie
Dear Bugman:
Could you please tell me the name of this butterfly? It was spotted in the Wasaga Beach, Ontario area last July fluttering around on the sandy path in a forest before it landed on the wooden bed of a trailer where it stayed long enough for a photo to be taken, much to my delight. I can’t find photos on your wonderful site that exactly match as most butterflies are photographed from the upper side. Could it be an Admiral, Red or White? Thank you so much. By the way, I sent you two photographs of dragonflies yesterday and am now wondering if I should have sent them and this one, at full resolution. I shrunk them for your easy download but can resend easily if you are interested in posting them to your site.
Jan in Wasaga Beach, Ontario
Hi Jan,
This is a White Admiral, Limenitis arthemis arthemis, a subspecies of the Red Spotted Purple that flies in the northern portion of the range. The subspecies with interbreed where their ranges overlap. Sadly, we did not even see your dragonfly images since we post at random from the many emails we receive each day. We can handle a 5000K file, and it would be great if we were making a poster, but the file you sent was perfect for cropping and posting to the web at 72dpi.
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Posted 04 July 2008
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Conjoined Twin Butterflies!
So, my 6-year old son calls me out to the passion flower vine, telling me that there are two butterflies lying on the ground, one on top of another. I explain that they are likely mating, and tried to go back to my work, but he INSISTED that I come out to see them. Imagine my surprise to find that they are, in fact, *conjoined twin* gulf fritillary butterflies, sharing a single abdomen! I think the picture 042 shows the join the best, albeit a bit out of focus. The other pictures are much clearer, but not as good of a view of the join. Amazing! Didn’t find anything about this anomaly online, so I thought I’d see if you were interested in having a look-see…. My question – Would they have come from conjoined caterpillars, or would they possibly have been a single caterpillar prior to the cocoon? Thanks for any insight!
Julianna McDuffie
San Marcos, CA
Hi Julianna,
Your letter gave us a good chuckle. These actually are mating Gulf Fritillaries. Taking a good look at our numerous Bug Love pages will reveal that many insects interlock during mating to ensure the fertilization process. Interestingly, the disection of butterfly genitalia is the only sure way to distinguis species sometimes. We are not certain if the cellular structure of an insect egg would even permit conjoined twins, but if it did, the immature insect would surely not survive since the mutation would not be an advantageous one. Since most insects don’t care for their young, exceptions being the social ants, bees, wasps, and termites, and some oddities like Bess Beeetles, a mutated larva that couldn’t survive on its own would die.
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Posted 02 July 2008
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Tagged: bug love
BIG MONEY RIDING ON THIS ONE!
Hi Bugman,
My neighbor and I have 1000c ($2) riding on the answer to what this is. He says it’s a morpho. I say it’s not. I have lots of morphos on my property. Some are solid blue on top and some are blue with a thin black edging.. Both are bigger than the one pictured and they have a different pattern on the underside of the wing. They have the big owl spots and a darker brown pattern. These butterflies seem to enjoy the mangos. They are medium sized and very striking, but I’m betting they aren’t a morpho. Thanks for your help.
Jori
Costa Rica
Hi Jori,
We have been scouring the internet for an hour trying to get you a definitive answer. Here is what we do know. The butterfly is in the family Nymphalidae, the same family as the Morphos. We believe it is in the subfamily Morphinae, the Morphos, or Brassolinae, the Owl Butterflies. The markings and coloration are consistant with the markings and coloration of a Morpho. Morphos take sustenance from fruit like your specimen. We found a website with listings of the Morphos and Owls of Monteverde, and the four species in the genus Morpho DO NOT match your specimen. There is another genus listed in the subfamily Morphinae. It is Antirrhea, but it has proven difficult to find images of these two representatives. While searching we found an impressive Asian website with no matching Morphos or Owls. Our conclusion is that your butterfly is Morpho-esque, but we really need assistance with its correct identification.
Correction: (07/02/2008) Butterfly from Costa Rica: Morpho or Not???
Re: Butterfly from Costa Rica: Morpho or Not??? (07/01/2008) BIG MONEY RIDING ON THIS ONE!
Hello Bugman:
I believe the butterfly in question is a leafwing (Charaxinae), probably a White-spotted Prepona (Archaeoprepona amphimachus). There are numerous online images e.g.: http://butterfliesofamerica.com/archaeoprepona_amphimachus_amphiktion.htm and http://neotropicalbutterflies.com/Site%20Revision/Pages/Nymphalidae_Pages/Charaxinae/Charaxinae_Pages/Archaeoprepona_amphimachus.html Regards,
Karl
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Posted 01 July 2008
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Camera Shy Butterfly
Hi Bugman,
Thank you for identifying my moth for me. I recently read a one of your postings that said you were having trouble photographing the elusive Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. I happened to see about 20 of them on the shoreline of Lake Berkley in Tennessee. These big beauties wouldn’t leave me alone. They kept landing on my shirt and flying into my face while I was trying to fish. One of them caught me off gaurd and "buzzed my tower," which led to me smacking myself in the face and losing my sunglasses into the lake! I didn’t catch any fish, but I did get some nice photos. These butterflies seem to love the swampy shoreline. I tried to get as many into one shot as I could, but the best I could do was four (second photo). Anyway, just thought you might enjoy the pictures.
Adam in Tennessee
Hi Adam,
Thank you so much for sending us your gorgeous photos and wonderful account of the experience. These are Zebra Swallowtails, not Tiger Swallowtails. The Puddling behavior you witnessed is something certain male butterflies do shortly after emerging from the chrysalis. They are thought to injest necessary minerals while Puddling.
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Posted 30 June 2008
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One I know, one I don’t
Here are a couple of pics of critters from my back yard in Debary, FL (Central Florida) The butterfly, an Old World Swallowtail, was only minutes to hours old when I snapped the photo – not sure how long they take to fly. He came home with us from a nursery yesterday on the Key West lime he’s hanging from in the picture. He was stretching out his still soft wings this morning when I took the picture and was gone an hour after this photo. The other pic is of a very small spider I’ve never seen before. The leaf he’s on is Thai Basil and is no more than an inch long. Do you know this little guy?
Alex
Hi Alex,
The butterfly you have identified as an Old World Swallowtail is actually a Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes. Key Lime is a larval food plant for the caterpillars which are known as Orange Dogs. We would need more time to identify your spider which is one of the Orbweavers.
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Posted 29 June 2008
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is it a snaker a moth?
I saw this amazing creature one afternoon along the coast just north of Tulum Mexico. Fortunately she was busy laying her eggs so she stayed for her portrait. Can you tell me what she is? I didn’t get the whole snake face camo impact until I viewed her on my computer. Thank you
Wendy Morrow
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
Hi Wendy,
This is an Owl Butterfly in the genus Caligo. There is a nice Wikipedia page on Owl Butterflies. The markings mimic the face of an owl to startle predators.
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Posted 26 June 2008
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Gulf Frittialary Love
Hi Bugman!
Thank you for such an amazing website! I find myself checking the garden just for new bugs to identify! I have a beautiful butterfly garden and cater specifically to the gulf fritillary. I just snapped these photos today when I got home from work! Yippee! Mating fritillaries! You can actually see the chrysalis one had emerged from today behind them! So exciting to me! Thought you might enjoy! Take care and keep up the lovely website!
Jayme
Mission Viejo, CA
Hi Jayme,
Thanks for sending us your mating Gulf Fritillary image. Gulf Fritillaries can be found where its larval food plant, passionflower, is planted.
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Posted 24 June 2008
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