Detailed Butterfly tatts
Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Hi Bugman,
I wanted to share my beautiful (if I do say so myself) ink. I picked up the three mounted species during my travels and brought them in to get exact replicas (thanks Mark Mahoney). The top one is Trogonoptera brookiana (a birdwing?) , Monarch and a Ulysses. He got them perfectly, right down to the veins in the wings and the red marking on the thorax of the birdwing.
I read your site everyday and can’t get enough!
Hope to see you guys at the bug fair at the Natural History museum in May!
Andrea
West Hollywood
Anatomically Correct Butterfly Tattoos
My My Andrea,
What anatomical perfection. Seriously though, Mark Mahoney did a wonderful job on the Raja Brook’s Birdwing, Monarch and Ulysses Swallowtail. As if the drawing we just posted of a Solpugid wasn’t enough to dispel any rumors that we are a serious insect identification website, your tattoo photo might just send the purists into a tizzy. We do like to keep things light and entertaining.
We often attend the Bug Fair, but as guests. Dare we ask how we will recognize you should we cross paths? Perhaps we will talk to our agent about getting a booth at the fair this year. It might be a good way to begin to publicize the book we are writing.
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Posted 11 April 2009
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Whats this beautiful bug?
Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Great Purple Hairstreak
I have been loving your site for a few years now. So,let me make this short…what is this? Moth?Thanks for your help.
Myra in Ft Polk, La
Fort Polk,LA
Great Purple Hairstreak
Dear Myra,
How lucky are you??? You have witnessed a newly metamorphosed Great Purple Hairstreak, Atlides halesus, expand its wings. This Gossamer Wing is a southern species. According to BugGuide, the “Larvae feed on mistletoe, live oak, western sycamore, and desert ironwood.” Thanks so much for your kind compliment. We hope our humble site has brought a new appreciation for the smaller things in life to many of our readers.
Great Purple Hairstreak
Need help identifying this butterfly
Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 6:08 PM I was out in the yard this evening here in Brackettville, Texas (southwest Texas) when this butterfly landed on the fence. I didn’t see it with its wings open. It seemed fairly small to me, not much bigger than an American Snout. I thought it must be some type of Sulphur because of the coloring but I’ve been looking around online for two hours and haven’t seen anything that looks like it. Thank you!
Genie
Brackettville, Tx
Falcate Orangetip
Dear Genie,
We quickly identified your Falcate Orangetip, Anthocheris midea, in our Butterflies Through Binoculars: The West book by Jeffrey Glassberg. The hooked forewing apex is quite unique. We then tried to find images online to link to. Jeff’s Nature Page has gorgeous images of this lovely butterfly, but only one showed the closed wing pose of your individual. The Lens Flare website has a lovely image of a mated pair. BugGuide indicates that the adults take nectar from spring flowers like Spring Beauty, and the caterpillars feed on plants in the mustard family.
What type of sulphur butterfly is this?
Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 11:29 AM
I took a picture of this butterfly while in South Florida on the edge of the Loxahatchee River. I would say the plants in the area are typical of south florida and or wetlands. I found various sulphur butterflies, but I could not find any that were the same green color and am hoping you could help me to identify it.
Madcalabrian
Riverbend Park, Jupiter Florida
Cloudless Sulphur
Dear Madcalabrian,
This sure looks like a Cloudless Sulphur, Phoebis sennae, to us. According to BugGuide, the Cloudless Sulphur may be identifiede by the following description: “upperside of male wings lemon yellow or pale greenish-yellow with no markings; female forewing with small dark spot, usually a narrow blackish outer margin, and a few vague dark dots near tip. Underside of hindwing with two silver black-rimmed spots in both sexes.” This butterfly breeds in the Southern states and strays north in the fall.
Help with skippers
Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Dears Bugman:
Try as I might, I’m just not confident in my ID’s of all those pesky little orange skippers in my garden and lawn. I’m getting pretty good at the rest of the butterflies, but those skippers–yeeeshh!
Grass Skipper 1
I think I’ve been able to ID sachems and Peck’s skippers, but I wouldn’t bet my reputation on it (what little reputation there is). Wonder if you could take a look at the attached pics and give me a clue. I’ve also attached pics of a couple interesting moths I couldn’t ID. All these photos were taken summer 2008. Much obliged! (P.S. love your site!)
John Meredig
Spencer County, Southwest Indiana
Grass Skipper 2
Dear John,
Your letter is quite amusing, and we are quite certain the peskiness you mention has more to do with trying to identify the species than it does with the behavior of the Skippers. We too are quite frustrated when attempting to identify species of Skippers, and we generally just lump them all together as Grass Skippers in the subfamily Hesperiinae, which Jeffrey Glassberg describes in Butterflies Through Binoculars The West as: “Generally smaller than spread-wing skippers, most grass skippers have a rapid darting flight. When landed, theri wings are kept completely closed (often), or with the HWs [hind wings] more or less completely open but with the FWs [fore wings] only partially opened, forming a V or U. Males usually have a black ’stigma’ on the FW that contains specialized sex scales. The characteristics of the stigma are sometimes useful for identification.”
Grass Skipper 3
We are sorry we cannot assist you more with exact species identification and we hope our own reputation has not suffered adversely because of this. We are posting all of your Grass Skipper images in the hopes that our readership can assist in the identification, though we would not eliminate the possibility that they are all the same species. Your photos are quite excellent and we hope you consider sending us some other underrepresented butterfly species one at a time for possible posting consideration.
Grass Skippers 4
Update
Re: Help with skippers – Jan 4, 2009
Happy New Year Daniel:
Indeed, the little orange grass skippers can be frustrating. However, John’s excellent photos clearly show the very large, squarish, black stigma that is characteristic of a male Sachem (Atalopedes campestris). There’s always room for some uncertainty when dealing with grass skippers, but I am reasonably certain about this one. Regards.
Karl
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