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Metamorphosis of a Crescent Butterfly

Partial life stages of a crescent butterfly species

crescent caterpillars chris 300x278 Metamorphosis of a Crescent Butterfly

Crescent Caterpillars

Partial life stages of a crescent butterfly species
Location: Cheney Kansas
July 12, 2011 7:05 pm
I’ve been documenting this species of butterfly from my garden..I think it’s from the crescent family just not sure of the exact species of crescent.
I collected the caterpillar and it formed it’s chrysalis in a jar and about a week later it transformed into a butterfly.
Signature: Chris Harris

crescent pupa chris 300x221 Metamorphosis of a Crescent Butterfly

Crescent Chrysalis

Hi Chris,
Your documentation of the metamorphosis of a Crescent Butterfly is an excellent addition to our website.  This is most likely a Pearl Crescent, Phyciodes tharos, though some other members of the genus look very similar. You can find the Pearl Crescent and others on BugGuide.  We are setting your posting to go live over the weekend while we are out of the office.

crescent butterfly chris 300x193 Metamorphosis of a Crescent Butterfly

Pearl Crescent

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Posted 16 July 2011 § Brush Footed Butterflies § brush footed butterfly caterpillars ‡ Comments (2) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Giant White Butterfly or Optical Illusion???

Giant white winged butterfly?
Location: Auburn, NJ
July 7, 2011 8:48 am
Hi, I know the pics aren’t much, but I’m way curious with this one. This has got to be the biggest winged insect I’ve seen here. Unfortunately, it was at least 100 yards away from where I stood on the bridge over Oldmans Creek, near Auburn NJ. My eyes picked up on something white, and honestly, until I zoomed in with the camera expected it would be some sort of marsh bird. Or a flower or leaf or something large like that.
Only thing I can think of comes close to this size might be a luna moth. But this one is floating on a reed in the creek shallows, with it’s wings up. I thought moths usually rest with their wings down. I tried to adjust the settings hoping for some more detail, but it took off.
I’ll keep looking for it down there, and in the guides, but maybe it was just passing through? Thanks for any help.
Signature: Val

white thing val 300x225 Giant White Butterfly or Optical Illusion???

White Thing

Hi Val,
While a picture might be worth a thousand words, there are times that a photo doesn’t quite capture the experience of actually seeing something.  Our eyes frequently play tricks on us, and photographs have the capacity to distort reality because of the compression of space and the way that perspective and depth perception can fool they eye.  We can’t help but to draw comparisons between your photo and the images of the Loch Ness Monster or photos of UFOs.  Additionally the great film director Michelangelo Antonioni demonstrated in his ground breaking film Blow-Up that by enlarging a portion of a photograph in order to obsess on a detail, it is possible to see things that are not really there or to see what one wants to see while the image quality degrades.  We don’t know what you saw, but there does appear to be something white that is shaped like a butterfly in your photograph.

white thing val cu 300x208 Giant White Butterfly or Optical Illusion???

White Thing

Posted 07 July 2011 § ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged:

Spicebush Swallowtail

Black Butterfly
Location: Woods, on Pink Ball
July 4, 2011 8:58 am
I was walking around my backyard when I turned around and noticed in our woods where our old pink ball stands, there was a huge black butterfly with little white spots on the ends of the wings. Could you please tell me what this beautiful bug is?
Signature: Maddison .L.

spicebush swallowtail maddison 300x224 Spicebush Swallowtail

Spicebush Swallowtail

Hi Maddison,
Your excellent photo of a male Spicebush Swallowtail allows us to eliminate other dark swallowtails that also range in your area of the woods on a pink ball.  Typically, the location field on our form is used to supply a state, country, county or city or some other identifiable location as opposed to a vague site like woods with a pink ball.

I apologize, I wasn’t too sure what it meant, here is the real location; United States, Massachusetts, Centerville

Posted 04 July 2011 § swallowtails ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Monarch Butterflies raised in captivity

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 online dori 300x206 Monarch Butterflies raised in captivity

Monarchs On Line

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

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Posted 01 July 2011 § Brush Footed Butterflies ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Common Alpine: Underrepresented on our site

Butterfly ID
Location: Prince Albert, N. Saskatchewan, Canada
June 13, 2011 3:25 pm
Hello! I can usually find almost anything I need ID’d on your site, but this butterfly eludes me. (And I’ve been through 65 pages of pictures here, as well as any books I can find!)
It was along the riverbank of the N. Saskatchewan River in Northern Sask.
The view of it’s open wings are blurry but it appeared to be mostly a shimmer dark brown/bronze colour.
I am thinking a satyr or maybe a buckeye of some sort? Can you steer me in the right direction.
Thanks for any help!
Signature: Tami

common alpine tami 300x225 Common Alpine: Underrepresented on our site

Common Alpine

Hi Tami,
Alas, your request arrived during our absence from the office for a week, and we are trying our best to respond to and post as many letters as we can.  Your request has us most excited, and the reason you were unable to find your lovely Common Alpine, Erebia epipsodea, on our website, is because your photos are a first for us despite the word “common” being a part of its name.  Additionally, the tribe Satyrini, the Nymphs and Satyrs, are very underrepresented in our archives.  This is probably because these species are often associated with remote wooded areas and they are very rarely found in gardens.  BugGuide has some nice photos of the Common Alpine, however, there is no information regarding it nor is there any information on this group up to the subfamily level on BugGuide. This is a sad oversight on this lovely group of generally brown butterflies.  Jeffrey Glassberg writes in his wonderful book, Butterflies Through Binoculars, the West, that they are found in:  “moist meadows and praries, from Rocky Mountain foothills to high elevations, occasionally above the treeline.”  We find you photos especially interesting because Glassberg also writes on the introduction to the subfamily Satyrinae:  “Most species rarely visit flowers.”  We have a vague recollection of reading in the past that Satyrs and Wood Nymphs often feed on tree sap, rotted fruit, animal feces, and even putrefying flesh, however, we cannot recall where we read that.  BugGuide does have several photos though of Common Alpines nectaring from flowers.  The Butterflies and Moths of North America website does indicate that adults feed on “Flower nectar.”  We did locate this online article on the Common Alpine.  According to the Colorado Front Range Butterflies website:  “Males patrol all day to watch for females.”

common alpine tami 2 300x228 Common Alpine: Underrepresented on our site

Common Alpine

Thank you so much for that speedy response.  You guys work fast there!
The links you sent were great, helping me to also identify a Northern cloudywing skipper.  I have actually ordered the Butterflies Through Binoculars book you mentioned, which will be a huge help and interesting reading.
I have, since taking those pictures of that quite large common alpine, seen a number of them quite a bit smaller and not nearly as brightly coloured, but all are in the meadow and forested areas along the river.  In searching them out,  I believe they are possibly a subspecies which is interesting!
While there is plentiful wild animal feces and dead animals in forested areas, I have only ever seen these butterflies on flowers, which for some reason, appeals to my sense of how well-mannered butterflies should behave.
Thanks again for your wonderful response.
Tami

Posted 16 June 2011 § Brush Footed Butterflies ‡ Comments (0) °

Red Admiral

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 stephanie 300x265 Red Admiral

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.

Posted 15 June 2011 § Brush Footed Butterflies ‡ Comments (0) °

Dancing Acraea caught in Communal Spiders Web: Could Insects Care Less about a name?????

Caught Dancing Acraea
Location: Masai Mara, Kenya
June 5, 2011 1:24 pm
Hi Daniel,
Thought you might like this picture of a Dancing Acraea (Hyalites eponina) caught in a Community Nest Spiders’ web (Stegodyphus sp.).
Judging by the worn out wings, I reckon the butterfly had been there for a little while, and the spiders did not seem interested in it. Stegodyphus spiders are generally quite small, but they feed communally. I wonder if this butterfly was just to big for them?
Signature: Zarek

dancing acraea kenya zarek 300x206 Dancing Acraea caught in Communal Spiders Web: Could Insects Care Less about a name?????

Dancing Acraea in Spider's Web

Hi Zarek,
Thanks so much for taking the time to properly identify your butterfly as a Dancing Acraea.  We were not familiar with this species, and we found a description on the Learn About Butterflies:  Butterflies of Africa website.  We are somewhat confused as to its name.  That site indicates the scientific name is Acraea serena, but the Tree of Life website identifies it as Actinote serena, and the always questionable Wikipedia identifies it as Telchinia serena.  Biodiversity Explorer has wonderful information on the Communal Spiders or Social Spiders from the genus Stegodyphus.  We are going to tag this as a Food Chain image though you indicate this might not be truly accurate.

Hi Daniel,

Thanks so much for the reply.  My identification (Hyalites eponina)
came from my field guide to insects of southern africa and previous
knowledge.  I’ve looked through the websites you provide and they all
seem legit (except maybe wikipedia).
I’m not an expert myself, so I’ll try to get another opinion from a
local expert.
Here’s another ID:
http://www.insecta.co.za/insect/imagegal/lepidop/pages/image/imagepage56.html
Thanks again
Zarek

Hi Zarek,
We believe two different things are at play here regarding the Dancing Acraea.  First, probably several closely related species might have the same common name, and secondly, some taxonomic revisions might have occurred and they are not being reflected in the online postings.  One would think that a common name that refers to a specific genus would pertain to a member of that genus, and though the species in your photo might be Hyalites eponina, the common name Dancing Acraea being given to a species in a genus other than Acraea does not seem logical.  Alas, DNA analysis might be necessary to get definite confirmation.  The truth of the matter is that insects could care less if they have names.  Genetic diversity might eventually result in new species and subspecies, and our human obsession with names and categorization may not be able to keep pace with insect evolution.

Hahaha…  great reply.  I always thought that insects were very
involved in their own naming process, taking great time and care and
deliberation over both scientific and common names.
As a matter of interest, another source (Field Guide to the
Butterflies of Southern Africa) calls the Small Orange/Dancing Acraea
‘Acraea eponina’, just to confuse us even more.
I don’t want to start a grammar war, but the correct phrase you might
be looking for is “…insects COULDN’T care less….”.  Saying that
they “COULD care less” means that they do care a little and can care
less than they already do.  Saying that they could NOT care less means
that they do not care at all and therefore have no capacity to care
less than they already do.
Sorry.  This is 100% fan-mail.  I’m just playing into your hands!
Zarek

Alas, we have no true editor on staff and all grammatical errors in our responses remain the responsibility of our self-censoring writing staff (of one).  You may also enjoy our handling of this anagrammatical faux pas from this past weekend.

Posted 05 June 2011 § Brush Footed Butterflies § Communal Spiders ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Variable Checkerspot

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 california andie 300x194 Variable Checkerspot

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 california andie under 300x218 Variable Checkerspot

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.

 

Posted 29 May 2011 § Brush Footed Butterflies ‡ Comments (0) °

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