Butterflies rank as one of nature's inspired handicrafts.
Perhaps because of their beauty, butterfly collections were assembled, and with time
and tedious study, similarities and differences were unraveled.
As butterfly kinships became more understood, they were eventually classified into broad
groupings called families.
Presently, the family of skippers is recognized for tiny sizes, dull colors, and hooked antennas.
Swallowtails are famous for their large, magnificent sizes and tailed hind wings.
Whites and sulfurs are united by their light, bright colors.
Coppers, hair streaks, blues, and harvesters are tiny butterflies which, for the most part,
rub their hind wings together when perched.
Brushfoots are insects with males possessing four, rather than six, functional legs.
Butterflies are usually combinations of orange and black.
Satires and wood nymphs always display brownish colors punctuated with eye-like spots.
Milkweed butterflies are unique because the caterpillars feed strictly on milkweeds.
In this guide, 49 species representing these families, and numbered for handy reference,
are illustrated.
Most are common and statewide in distribution, and all were videotaped live during three
summers in Wisconsin.
During the warm months, butterflies of all sorts make their manual appearances.
Some kinds, like this monarch butterfly, grace gardens and sunny fields throughout the summer.
Others, like this delicate Olympian marble, appear simply in spring.
Still, others, including the Baltimore checkerspot, flash their colorful wings in early summer.
Extensive research and fieldwork reveals that about 150 kinds, or species, are credited
to the state's fauna.
Using this video guide will help you find and identify most of the state's common residents,
and possibly help you uncover some that are rare.
Beauty is one of the singular essences of the butterfly.
In this regard, coloration plays a vital role.
Color should be used as one of the aids to identify them.
This red-spotted purple is fittingly named because of its colors.
So too is the red admiral, whose signature is the reddish band that slashes across the
top wings.
The orange sulfur wears its name well.
So too does the tiger swallowtail.
Most species that are largely blue, white, or yellow can easily and safely be identified
by color.
Butterflies do not grow larger as they grow older.
Instead, genetics sets the standard for each species' adult size.
Traditionally, size is determined by measuring from wingtip to wingtip.
This guide shows the wingspan using inches, and that size is equal to what is average
for most individuals.
Within each habitat group shown in part two of this tape, species are arranged from the
largest to the smallest.
Butterfly shapes are noteworthy too.
Observance can help in the identification process as well.
All species possess symmetrical forewings and hindwings, but not all have evenly margined
wings as does this banded purple.
Fresh angle wings and tortoise shells display jagged, unevenly edged wings.
A few possess extensions on the hindwings, including swallowtails and hair streaks.
Skippers combine stout bodies with disproportionately small wings.
Butterflies are difficult to approach unless at rest or feeding.
The fevered moments they die may allow you to see them at their best, often close up.
Feeding is accomplished with a unique tongue that can be extended or recoiled.
The tongue is not unlike a drinking straw and allows nectar and moisture to be admitted.
Flowers are the primary food source for most.
Red puddles, damp spots, and wet gravel also may gather them.
For some, unsavory menu items include rotting fruit, animal dung, or decaying matter.
Butterflies lead complex lives.
Finding the intimacies of their life histories can prove fascinating and revealing.
New life begins when the female, as in the case of this tortoise shell, carefully selects
the correct food plant to lay the eggs.
Instinctively, she places these eggs on nettles, knowing that it can support her offspring.
The egg is a tiny capsule of life from which a caterpillar emerges, with an exacting appetite.
Tiger swallowtail caterpillars feed strictly upon the foliage of such trees as wild cherry,
ash, or poplar.
Monarch larvae demand milkweed leaves.
The question mark requires nettles or elm.
The immature stages of Milbert's tortoise shell feast together in large numbers upon
nettles.
As is the case with the clouded sulfur larva, it feeds upon clovers for several weeks until
maturity.
The larva then suspends itself with silk.
Once anchored, the caterpillar wiggles out of its skin and changes into a chrysalis or
resting state.
After dramatic changes within the chrysalis, hatching occurs.
At first, the wings are small and soft.
Almost immediately, the freshly emerged adult begins to pump special body fluids into the
veins that support the wings.
The wings quickly expand and after several hours when they have dried and hardened, flight
is possible.
Successful adults like these black swallowtails go on to mate and renew the species.
In the course of a summer time, this life cycle may be repeated two or more times in
some species.
Using this guide should assist you to know the names of the great majority of significantly
common species that range throughout the state.
Each is illustrated and numbered.
The common or popular name is shown at the top.
The scientific name written in Latin is shown beneath.
The size is indicated with the letter S and followed with the measurement in inches.
Although a few of the butterflies illustrated in this guide may visit your flower garden,
most will require they be met in their homes or habitats.
These homes are the locations where the adults can survive and reproduce.
It is an area where the soil and climates support endemic vegetation, including larval
food plants.
For the sake of simplification, this guide has placed the state's butterflies into three
broad and general groupings based on habitat.
Butterflies of open, sunny places.
Butterflies of wetlands.
Butterflies of the forest.
This habitat includes fields, roadsides and dry, weedy or grassy areas which are exposed
to an abundance of sunshine.
Nineteen representative species are shown, beginning with the largest in size.
Few butterflies have achieved the public recognition that monarchs seem to enjoy.
One of the largest of the state's butterflies, males and females are almost alike, displaying
the rich dominating golden orange colors that make them conspicuous in flight or at rest.
Found throughout the state in gardens, along roadsides and in clover fields, monarchs usually
become more numerous as summer progresses.
During September, adults undertake their fall migration, taking leave of Wisconsin and other
northern residences to journey southward into Mexico.
These overwintering quarters have been the same for eons, with monarchs by the countless
thousands returning to these ancestral grounds instinctively and unerringly.
Though the return in spring is never as spectacular as the fall migration, nonetheless overwintered
adults and their offspring repopulate Wisconsin as early as May.
Caterpillars restrict their diets to milkweeds and adults have come to be known also as milkweed
butterflies.
In the male, two rows of yellow spots are pronounced.
Both hindwings bear tails, a characteristic of many in the swallowtail family.
The female is blacker overall and either lacks the inner row of yellow spots or if present
are whitish.
The hindwing is tailed and shows more blue.
It populates roadsides, fields and other sunny places where milkweed and wildflowers abound.
Caterpillars of the first brood appear in late May and June with a second generation
arriving in August.
Common enough statewide, the black swallowtail however seems never to occur in concentrated
numbers.
Caterpillars feed upon carrot, parsley, dill and cow parsnip.
This fast-flying, highly energetic butterfly frequents sun-drenched fields and roadsides,
stopping consistently at thistle and clover blossoms.
At rest, the undersides of the hindwing exhibit four small round spots.
The American painted lady, its lookalike, has two large spots here.
The species is a notable traveler and migrates to Wisconsin annually from strongholds in
southern and western states.
As a result, it fluctuates dramatically in numbers from year to year.
In favorable years, it flies all summer.
The butterfly is also known as the thistle butterfly because of its larval food plant choice.
In the male, the common wood nymph is best identified by its blackish color which is
enhanced underneath with eye-like spots.
Females are browner, slightly larger, and display bigger eye spots on the forewings
than the males.
From late May to mid-August, weedy, brushy clearings throughout Wisconsin hold colonies
of this common butterfly.
Males occasionally dally aimlessly on the ground.
The species seems to require minimal feedings to support the immature stages.
Dog or poodle-like outline present on the forewings is the trademark of this uncommon
Wisconsin insect.
In the male, this black outline is solid, while in the female, it may occur with some
white.
In favorable years, it may be found sparingly in the southern counties during late summer.
The species is associated with weedy, dry openings, roadsides, and clover fields.
Females select lead plants and sometimes clovers as the larval food plant.
Red admirals are remarkably unique in that they range throughout the United States as
well as being familiar sites in parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
In Wisconsin, it is found everywhere.
The reddish-orange brand that slashes across the forewings serves as its best identification
mark.
Males and females are similar.
Two broods develop each summer with the last adults of the warmer weather hibernating.
Normally, common enough from May to September, it may become unusually abundant periodically.
Adults are thrilled with flowers, thoroughly enjoy crawling about on the ground, or feasting
on rotten fruit or manure.
The caterpillars may be found on nettles.
Almost a carbon copy of its larger cousin, the painted lady, this species is quickly
identified by these pair of large spots beneath.
Wary and keen-eyed by nature, the butterfly is a challenge to approach.
Roadside flowers will attract it, including many of the low-growing wild and cultivated
varieties that abound in sunny fields and wayside.
Dune hibernators take wing in early spring and give rise to new populations late in June
and August.
Dry sandy places, including dune areas and road beds, beckon individuals, too.
Common statewide, Everlastings, Burdock, and Cudweed are the principal food plants.
With the commonest and smallest of American tortoise shells, Milberts is recognizable
by the bright orange-yellow band above.
Underneath, it is marvelously camouflaged with bark-like resemblance and wing edges
that are jagged.
Damp ground will tempt it for a drink, and flowers of all sorts receive attention, too.
Males and females are alike and hibernate during the winter.
It is common statewide, appearing in May and peaking during July, August, and September.
The life cycle depends upon various kinds of stinging nettles.
Known only from the extreme northeastern counties, Texas Arctic is restricted to the sandy pine
barrens where it is prevalent but not common from mid-May until early June.
The obscure band that shares the mid-region of the hindwing underneath is the best identification
mark for both sexes.
It rests for long intervals on or near the ground, where it carefully angles itself to
the sun.
This is the Marvel food plant.
In the males of this abundant species, the vivid orange is contained by solid black margins.
The female generally lacks the intensity of orange and exhibits spotted borders.
They also occur as albinos, having the orange replaced with white.
Adults can be preoccupied with flowers, especially those flourishing in overrun fields.
Asters, clover, and alfalfa are mainstays.
Appearing first in May, the species becomes more numerous as summer advances and in the
southern counties may be abundant until October.
It is found throughout the state, where its larval food, alfalfa or white clover, grows.
Males are best recognized by their pure yellow color, which is offset with solid black.
Females, both in the typical form or the white albinoic variety, always display clouded borders.
Appearing annually in early May, these sulfur butterflies add to their numbers during the
summer.
From July on into fall, it often swarms in farm fields and may gather socially at mud
puddles.
It is commonest of the state's yellows and ranges everywhere.
Both red and white clover are the larval food plant.
With white dominating, males display this single black spot.
Females present two spots, while both sexes are marked with black wing tips.
Females are the most common of the whites, not only in Wisconsin, but over much of the
continent as well.
The species, native to Europe, accidentally infested the New World during the 1860s, advancing
from the Atlantic to the Pacific in a few short years.
The earliest of spring butterflies, it emerges in April and manages three more broods by
early fall.
Butterflies are destructive to cabbage and also devour mustard and turnip.
Because the meadow fritillary lacks the silvery margins on the undersides, it can be easily
told from its more ornate relative, the silver bordered fritillary.
Strangely, meadows that are either dry or others that are moist may harbor colonies.
When airborne, it is rapid and a strong flyer.
Commoner in the northern half of the state, it is prevalent throughout, from May until
early September.
There are two broods and the males and females are alike.
Violets are the larval food plant.
Males best exhibit the black check ring, which is distinctive for the species.
The male is whiter and has fewer black markings as seen in this court ritual.
Sporadic in occurrence and absence some seasons, it may become common during drought periods
within dry, weedy places.
Not recorded in northern counties, it is otherwise in flight from July to September.
The larval food plants include cabbage, turnip, shepherd's purse and pepper grass.
The largest of the resident coppers, this species is by comparison darker than its relatives.
Both sexes are generally similar with softly lustrous brownish gray top sides.
Beneath, it is speckled with dark spots sent against a silvery gray background.
This orange area is nicely developed and a clue that it is a member of the copper family.
The great copper's range extends in small, widespread colonies from the western and northwestern
counties eastward to Milwaukee.
Not usually common, adults thrive in sunny fields where curled dock, milkweed and thistles
occur.
Flights last from late June well into July.
The slug-shaped caterpillars develop on curled dock.
Pearl crescent ranks as one of the common and most widespread small orange and black
butterflies that ranges over the entire southern two-thirds of the state.
Like others of the crescent butterflies, it is marked with a small moon-like spot on the
edge of the hind wing.
Its close relative, the northern pearl crescent, is also very similar in appearance and occupies
the northern counties.
The two blend where their ranges overlap.
Pearl crescents of both the north and south enjoy basking in the sun on gravel or low-growing
weeds.
On the wing in May, pearl crescents develop two broods during the summer and fly through
September.
Northern pearl crescents fly from June to mid-July.
New England Aster is the principal larval food plant.
In real life, the coral herring never opens its wings to exhibit the plain brown top sides.
Its hind wings lack the hairlike tails that are the trademark of the majority of Wisconsin's
hair streaks.
This beautiful series of coral red spots are a good visual clue to its name and identity.
Males and females are much alike.
Somewhat less than common statewide, adults find the blossoms of milkweeds irresistible.
The larval food plants include wild cherry and plum.
The brilliant fiery golden cast that becomes greatly pronounced in sunlight is singular
to the American copper.
It is also the smallest, commonest, and perkiest of the state's coppers.
Beneath, gray is the dominant color of the hind wing, bespeckled with tiny dark spots
and rimmed with a scrawly, thin red line.
Resident to treeless sunny areas where wayside flowers prevail, this fast-flying, energetic
butterfly may be observed from early June to mid-August.
There are two broods.
Local foods include wood sorrels and docks.
This delicate imp of a butterfly is the dwarf of the community of species that populate
dry, open, sunny places.
The male's tiny wingspan, combined with the dark, bluish-purple upper surfaces, are more
than distinctive.
Tails are brown and both sexes, when viewed from beneath, the silvery gray tones dominate.
The surfaces are lightly scattered with dark flecks, and near the hair-like tail, two small
orange spots occur.
Peculiar statewide to cut-over roadsides, clover fields, and occasionally mud puddles,
the tailed blue is multi-brooded and evident from May until September.
The larval food plant is clover.
Within this habitat, marshes, swamps, bogs, wet meadows, river and stream margins, and
areas of poor drainage are included.
Starting with the largest, twelve species are considered.
This spectacular fritillary is the largest inhabitant of wetland butterflies occurring
statewide.
Both sexes are almost alike and equally share interests in visiting milkweeds.
Beneath the abundance of silvered spots is obvious.
This area of the hind wing is whiter and purer yellow than other state fritillaries.
Newly emerged males begin their adult lives in mid-June and are joined in July and August
by females.
Always fond of flowers, the insect occasionally is also fascinated with gravel road beds.
Violets are the strict choice of the larval stages, and there is but one brood of adults
each summer.
Above, Aphrodite is strikingly similar to the large, great-espangled fritillary.
However, its slightly smaller size is one major difference.
Another is this area of the silvery spotted hind wings underneath.
The band here is narrower, darker, and not as uniformly shaded as its larger relative.
Although the sexes are basically similar, the females are slightly darker underneath.
Joe pieweed and milkweed are important nectar sources.
While brooded, adults commence their flight period in mid-June and may endure until late
August.
They will share their meals with others of the butterfly world.
The caterpillars limit their diet to violets.
With the exception of its smaller size, the viceroy is almost an identical twin of the
monarch.
This hind wing black line, absent in monarchs, is exclusive to viceroys.
The remarkable resemblance to monarchs is known as mimicry.
It is popularly regarded that viceroys, though in themselves tasty morsels to birds, are
disregarded because their look-alikes are unsavory.
Found everywhere throughout the state, viceroys roam about rich, damp meadows, frequently
perching on willow and other vegetation.
The first generation is active during June and the final brood during August.
There is virtually no visible difference between males and females.
Willows are the favored larval food plant.
The Baltimore spectacular combination of light, black, and orange checkering rivals the beauty
of most state butterflies.
Beneath, the orderly pattern is both beautiful and distinctive to this checker spot.
Males and females show little differences.
Appearing annually statewide from late June until mid-July, adults may be located nectaring
on thistle or other wild flowers.
The flight is casual and easy to follow, with the insects settling often.
Edges of marshes and swamps, lush meadows, and sedgey tracts are its haunts.
Turtlehead and foxglove are the larval food plants, and colonies of adults are found only
where these plants grow.
The typical of satires and wood nymphs, this species is dominated with brownish shades.
It always discloses four spots on the top wing and five on the bottom wing.
Beneath, these eye-like spots are larger, prettier, and visibly puped.
Wet grassy, sometimes clumpy meadows with plentiful sunshine may harbor this statewide
resident.
It rests frequently between periods of flight amid the grasses.
Mid-June through July is the flight period.
Horse meadow grasses are the larval food plant.
Typical of most fritillaries, this one also presents ample areas of tawny orange, laden
with cryptic lines and spots.
There is little difference, coloration-wise, between males and females.
Fueled with silver spots underneath, this marginal row is clearly tooth-shaped.
Its cousin, the meadow fritillary, completely lacks the silvered spots.
Fresh adults appear commonly in late May and June statewide within lush, damp meadows.
A second brood develops in July and on into August.
Wildflowers of all sorts are favored.
Its black, spiny caterpillars feed upon violets.
Harris's checker spot flaunts wings with thick black margins enriched inwardly with toasty
orange areas.
From above, it does superficially resemble the silvery checker spot and the pearl crescent.
Underneath, these seven pure white crescent-shaped spots are nearly equal in size.
The checker-like spots inwardly are clearly and thickly outlined with black.
There's a definite reddish cast to the wings.
Adults emerge during June and gather singly or in groups on damp roadside gravel.
When feeding here or at flowers, the wings open and close continuously.
Locally common, Harris's checker spot can be expected throughout the state, except the
southwestern counties.
While brooded, the larvae require white asters of the wetland meadows.
On close examination, the black borders of the forewing always reveal a tiny little spot.
Beneath, this silvery crescent is also very obvious.
The silvery cast or sheen is unmistakable, and it is never reddish like Harris's checker
spot.
Associated often with localities near stream banks or damp way sides, the silvery checker
spot appears annually during June.
The species is the most widespread of the state's checker spots, being found locally
and often commonly throughout.
Sunflowers provide the caterpillars with their desired food.
The upper surfaces of the bronze copper are mostly dark, with the exception of the wide
orange band rimming each hind wing.
In sunlight, the top wings reflect a violet hue.
Sunflowers possess clearly spotted forewings.
Beneath, both males and females are identical, sharing the showy orange band as well as the
light and dark markings.
Areas taken to occasional flooding, including river embankments and drainage ditches, will
support small breeding colonies statewide.
Here, adults are not rare and emerge both in June and again in August.
The slug-shaped caterpillar consumes various kinds of dock and knotweed.
The harvester is cloaked with thick black borders and inwardly sprinkled with orange.
Beneath, the spotting, though random, is noticeably present.
Both sexes are alike.
Despite a range that is statewide, this curious butterfly is seldom encountered with regularity.
It may be sought along stream and river banks with alders from May to August.
Flowers are of no interest to it.
Adults would rather crawl on gravel, animal excrement, or perch on the branches and leaves
of trees.
The flight is moth-like and low to the ground for the most part.
The larvae are unique in that they do not eat foliage, but rather consume the woolly
aphids peculiar to alder, currant, and witch hazel.
The color of the Acadian hair streak is brown above.
Keen observation of the hindwing is required in order to locate the thread-like tails.
The gray undersides are distinctive, and the hindwing bears very showy orange spots and
a large blue area near the tail.
Females and females are similar.
Adults avidly visit milkweeds that flourish in meadows and way sides, where scrubby willows
occur.
Mid-June and July marks the flight season.
Statewide in distribution, the Acadian hair streak is locally common and single-brooded.
The flight is swift, but the insect alights frequently.
Females support the larval stages.
With a wingspan averaging less than an inch, the least skipper is the smallest of the state's
brown and orange butterflies.
Being a skipper, the body is longer and larger than most true butterflies, with wings that
are by comparison quite small.
Riverbanks and wet grassy places find it more than abundant throughout the state from early
June on into August.
It weaves amid grasses, pausing at flowers or resting on grass blades.
Tall, wide-bladed grasses are the larval foods.
There are at least two broods here annually.
This habitat includes the deciduous and coniferous tracts that prevail in the state.
Oatsides, trails and glades that slash through these woodlands are the haunts of many, including
the 19 species depicted.
This is the state's largest butterfly, and that, coupled with its yellow spots and tailed
hind wings, renders it unmistakable.
The sexes are alike, appearing annually and locally in the southern counties during early
June, a second and usually larger brood just in August.
Adults roam deciduous forest openings, venturing frequently to cultivated clover and alfalfa
fields for nectar.
Airborne, the giant swallowtail is powerful and often enduring.
The life cycle requires prickly ash for the caterpillars.
Males are striking, laden with black tiger-like stripes set against rich yellow coloration.
Yellow females greatly resemble males, although there is considerably more blue in the hind
wing.
In addition to yellow females, a dark female form is also both consistent and fairly common.
Unless feeding, tiger swallowtails are strong, high and fast flyers.
Cloverfields adjacent to wooded areas are popular dining spots.
They appear first in early June and are followed with a second brood in August.
The species is limited to the southern half of the state.
Larvae enjoy both wild cherry and white ash.
The uneven irregularly shaped wing margins, the wide dirty yellow borders and the bright
blue spots combine to set the morning cloak apart from other butterflies.
Wide in distribution and perhaps more common in the north, adults appear as surviving hibernators
in March and April amid forest glades, woodland trails and adjoining open places.
Fresh new adults become evident in June and July and replace the overwintered adults.
These fly until fall and then hibernate.
During their flight months, they seldom visit flowers but are prone to roadbed gravel, rotting
fruit and sometimes tree sap.
Males and females are alike.
The larval stages develop upon elm and willow.
The Canadian tiger swallowtail is confined to the northern counties of the state.
Although it appears similar to the tiger swallowtail in the south, it is distinctive in several
ways, particularly from beneath.
Here, the four wings of the Canadian tiger swallowtail display this area as a nearly
continuous yellow line while in the southern tiger it is broken into separate spots.
The Canadian tiger also has this area with brighter blue and these spots with more orange.
Females of the Canadian tiger swallowtail are always yellow, never dark as is the case
with some southward.
Single brooded, the Canadian tiger swallowtail is abundant in forested areas where it hatches
in late May or early June, enjoying both flowers and mud puddles.
It disappears by late June.
The caterpillars feed upon poplar and birch.
This spectacular butterfly is a beautiful blend of black, orange, yellowish, brown and white.
The sexes are similar in appearance.
Beneath it resembles bark and also displays the irregular edges of the wings along with
a small whitish J-shaped mark.
A statewide resident, though commoner northward, adults frequent forested trails and are lured
to gravel, mud puddles and rotting fruit.
Between June and July fresh adults emerge and they in turn hibernate.
In some years the butterfly is common, others it is scarce.
The life cycle requires poplar, birch and perhaps willow for the caterpillars.
The bold white band that gently arcs across the wings is prominent and suggestive of this
species common name.
Males and females display little differences.
Its close relationship to the red spotted purple is obvious.
The white band is distinctive to the banded purple however.
Hybrids between the two show a partial white band above or beneath and are consistent across
the midsection of the state.
Northern forests support this common, sometimes abundant insect.
Here it can be observed in June as it courses along woodland trails pausing on gravel roadbeds
and mud to take in nourishment.
A second brood can be found on the wing in early August.
Flowers are of little interest to it.
The caterpillars feed upon birch, willow and poplar.
One of the loveliest of the state's butterflies, glossy shades of purple, blue, black and sometimes
green dazzle the eye.
It is easily identified from its close relative the banded purple by the absence of the white
band.
Underneath the reddish spots are occasionally visible when the wings are folded back.
In early June adults appear near forests or within, lingering along gravel roadsides and
wet places.
A second generation becomes common in August.
This butterfly ranges throughout the southern half of the state and is common.
In the midsection of the state it blends with the banded purple and is absent further northward.
The immature stages require wild cherry, plum, hawthorn and apple.
Most of the state's angle wings, the wing margins appear tattered.
The violet edging of the hindwing is exclusive to the question mark.
Beneath, the color varies from bluish-gray to varying shades of brown and orange.
The silvery imprint in the center of each hindwing is always divided into two spots that resemble
amazingly a question mark.
The fast-flying species ranges over the entire state with fresh adults hatching in July.
These have darker colored hindwings compared to the brood that follows in August.
Second brood adults hibernate and have oranger hindwings.
The species never seems to be common or abundant but occurs singly here and there near forested
areas.
They are sometimes attracted to rotting fruit.
Plum and nettles are the larval food plants.
Hackberry butterflies have the top wings sprinkled with light markings along with one large oval
spot.
Males and females display brownish tones and are basically alike.
Despite blurring speed, the butterfly frequently pauses, seldom for flowers, more usually to
investigate gravel and curiously enough will perch upon people, cars and sides of buildings.
Restricted to the southern counties, first generation adults fly in June followed by
another brood in early August.
The butterfly is especially prevalent in low river forests, becoming rare or absent north
of the Milwaukee-Madison latitudes.
The butterfly is found only where hackberry, the larval food plant, grows.
The upper surfaces of this common statewide angle wing are gold and orange, sprinkled
with darker markings and spots.
Both males and females are much alike.
Underneath, the colors are more brownish and the silver comma of the hindwing is never
broken into two parts, is extraordinarily distinct and looks somewhat like a barbed
fish hook.
In early July, the first fresh adults make their annual debut, these with darker hind
wings.
A second brood, which eventually hibernates, has lighter hind wings and is on the scene
in late August until the cold weather.
Males stop to drink on damp gravel, especially near or within woodlands.
The larval food plants are nettles, elm and hops.
The upper surfaces are brown with three large spots on the top wing and five more upon the
hind wing.
It, and the common wood nymph are the largest of the state's brown butterflies with eye
spots.
Beneath, the spots are elaborate and puped with blue.
Both sexes reflect a distinct pearly blush on the hind wing when fresh.
Statewide in occurrence, but somewhat more prevalent in the north, adults hatch in July.
They do not find flowers enticing, but do enjoy gravel and occasionally animal dung.
The butterfly confines itself to shaded woodland trails where it alights on tree trunks, branches
or foliage.
The common wood nymph, its relative, enjoys grassier, sunnier places.
The larval stages develop on grass.
This is the largest of the common skippers resident to the state.
Both males and females are chocolate brown on top with rusty orange spots across the
four wings.
Note that the antennas are bent or hook shaped, peculiar to many others of the skippers.
The silvery white patch centered on each hind wing beneath is prominent and easily observed
at rest or in flight.
Just throughout Wisconsin in mid-June and again in August, this active and swift flying
insect is attracted to flowers that straddle forest trails.
It will also venture out to gravel road beds, assembling individually or in numbers to enjoy
the moisture.
The caterpillars feed on locust and honey locust.
The little wood satire is grayish brown above and marked with small spots on both the top
and bottom wings.
Males and females are much alike.
The undersides are considerably brighter.
A large pair of eye spots occur on each hind wing and are accentuated with yellow rims
and bluish lines inside.
Statewide in occurrence during most of June and early July, this species is common and
often abundant in and about damp woodlands.
Here it flits amid low growing plants and grasses alighting on both leaves and the ground.
There is one brood each year and the larvae feed on grasses.
Similar to both the question mark and comma butterfly, the gray comma is both smaller
and more coppery orange above than the other two angled wings.
Below, the gray comma is blackish gray and looks like a chip of wood.
The comma like mark in the middle of the hind wing is faint and without a barb.
Males and females are alike.
Hibernators awaken in May and ultimately give rise to two generations during the summer.
Adults populate the entire state, are commoner northward and will occasionally take to flowers
near forested tracks.
Natural roadbeds, mud and compost also are attractive.
The larvae require currant, gooseberry or elm.
Almost totally pearly white above, the mustard white lacks the black spots common to others
of the state's whites.
Males and females greatly resemble each other.
The first brood, which emerges in early May, shows darkened veins on the under surfaces
of the hind wing.
The second brood on the wing in July is essentially unmarked white both above and below.
In both broods there is a distinct yellowish cast near the body.
The more densely forested counties of both the north and eastern parts of Wisconsin hold
strong populations of the mustard white.
It is rare or absent in the extreme south and west, perhaps in part due to the destruction
of forests and the intrusion of the cabbage butterfly.
The insect remains in or very close to forested tracts where it visits flowers freely.
The food plants include rockcress, watercress and toothwort.
In real life, Edward's Hairstreak never shows its rich brown upper surfaces because it always
perches with the wings clasped tightly together.
This is true of Hairstreaks in general.
Underneath the mousy brown color is accented with dark spots edged with white and each
distinctly separate from the adjoining ones.
Orange and blue patches are also evident and the hind wing is tailed.
Occurring everywhere in the state except the northern third, Edward's Hairstreak thrives
in oak forests where it can become locally common.
Amid glades of these hardwoods, it descends from perches on leaves to dine upon the nectar
of milkweed and others.
July is the principal flight month.
The sexes are similar.
The caterpillars feed upon oak.
When the wings of this tiny butterfly warm to the sun, the true beauty of this butterfly
unfolds.
Males display powdery blue top sides with thin black edging.
Females are deeper shades of blue and have the fore wings thickly margined with black.
The species thrives throughout the state, appearing in May and again with a second brood
in July and early August.
The flight is often long as it prances about brushy areas, ascending at times to the tops
of trees.
However, damp areas will bring the species within good observation ranges.
It possesses a passion for flowers near or within woodlands.
Various species of dogwoods support the caterpillars.
This early spring butterfly is brown on the top sides, but elaborately designed on the
under surfaces.
These show a rich mix of browns, orange-browns and black in a rather banded or checkered
pattern.
Recorded from much of the state, especially where stands of jack pine flourish, the pine
elfin is rather plentiful, but for the extreme southern counties.
Males and females are similar and characteristically visit early spring flowers, including creces,
violets and pussy toes.
The flight is swift and usually rather low to the ground.
The flight season begins in early May and is rather brief.
Few adults can be observed by the month's end.
It is single brooded.
Creatures require pine as the food plant.
The human race, now more than ever, is inheriting the stewardship of Earth's creatures, both
large and small.
Regardless of their size, color or status, butterflies remain precious packages of life.
From the standpoint of beauty, butterflies should be observed and enjoyed.
From the standpoint of wisdom, they should be conserved.
Butterflies bound genetically to their specific habits and habitats are in many cases emerging
into a world that is threatening their very existence.
As these environmental pressures increase, it becomes the profound duty and responsibility
of humankind to preserve habitats and thereby assure butterflies, as well as all life forms,
their places in the sun.
Thank you.