Subject:  Black and blue butterfly
Geographic location of the bug:  Northern Lower Michigan
Date: 08/12/2018
Time: 10:24 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  This is a very friendly butterfly. We are camping mid August northern lower Michigan, in a small clearing in the middle of 100 acres of mixed forest. Poplar, birch, maple, pine and cedar among other underbrush species.
How you want your letter signed:  Prettpuddles

Red Spotted Purple

Dear Prettpuddles,
This gorgeous butterfly is a Red Spotted Purple.  Thanks for providing a list of plants in the area.  Poplar and birch are both caterpillar food plants for the Red Spotted Purple, a list that includes “A variety of deciduous trees: willows and poplars (Willow family), cherries, apples and pears (Rose family), birches (Birch family), oaks and beeches (Beech family), Basswood (Linden family) and others. Also recorded from currant and blueberry bushes” according to BugGuide.

Red Spotted Purple

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Subject:  Is it a leaf or a rectangle with legs?
Geographic location of the bug:  Northwestern PA
Date: 08/08/2018
Time: 11:47 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  I spotted this on one of our Oak trees a couple of years ago and was never able to identify it.  Having come across your site, I hope you can achieve  what I haven’t.
How you want your letter signed:  Valerie

Questionmark

Hi Valerie,
Alas, your sharpest image is cropped so tightly that it has cut off the “stem” of the leaf which adds to the camouflage effect of this Questionmark butterfly, so we have also posted a blurrier image that includes the “stem.”  The Questionmark gets its name because of the silvery marking on the hind wings that resembles a grammatical interrogation symbol.  We suspect your individual is a male, because according to Butterflies and Moths of North America:  “Males find females by perching on leaves or tree trunks in the afternoon, flying to chase other insects and even birds.”

Questionmark

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Subject:  Butterfly vs Wasp vs ???
Geographic location of the bug:  Southwest Florida
Date: 07/26/2018
Time: 11:05 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Found this butterfly on a shrub near home and cannot figure out the name.  Have only seen once but am curious has different colors (off white, brown and gold) than what I usually see.
How you want your letter signed:  Elaine

White Peacock

Dear Elaine,
This pretty butterfly, which we identified on BugGuide, is a White Peacock, Anartia jatrophae, and according to BugGuide:  “Resident from Argentina north through Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to South Texas and southern Florida. Migrates and temporarily colonizes to central Texas and coastal South Carolina. A rare wanderer to North Carolina, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas.”

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Subject:  Butterfly
Geographic location of the bug:  Costa rica
Date: 07/14/2018
Time: 07:11 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Can’t believe I’ve lived here for years and this is the first time seeing this butterfly.
How you want your letter signed:  Jori

Glossy Daggerwing

Dear Jori,
We can’t believe you saw such a beautiful butterfly, yet the image you attached is very low resolution.  We quickly identified Iole’s Daggerwing, Marpesia iole, thanks to Getty Images., and upon searching for a second reference, we found a Costa Rican FlickR posting identified as the Glossy Daggerwing, Marpesia furcula iole.  The common name Sunset Daggerwing is used on iNaturalist and the range map includes many Costa Rican sightings.  Butterflies of America uses the common name Glossy Daggerwing to identify Marpesia furcula.

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