Monday, July 19, 2010

Pearl Crescent

Silvery Checkerspot

 This brightly colored butterfly is the Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis), they are common throughout the Midwest and eastward. In fact these little orange butterflies are one of the most frequently encountered butterflies around our farm. With a wingspan up to 1 1/2 inches they are far from a large butterfly and may often go unnoticed in favor of the much larger and colorful butterfly species.

Another similar species is the Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos), the main difference between these two species in the "Open" spot on the hind wing of the Silvery Checkerspot. When I first posted this entry I had the first picture listed as a Pearl Crescent. Linda Williams, who is an expert on butterflies here in Missouri and actually raises many of them for release, pointed out I was indeed mistaken. It is a silvery checkerspot. So I changed the information to reflect the right species. I want to thank Linda for pointing out my faux pas. These are terribly difficult butterflies to differentiate....I need to remember to look for that open "spot"

There is something to be said for these smaller butterflies though, they are beautifully marked, and very often easy to approach. I've coaxed them to sit on my fingers and they cooperate quite nicely when trying to get their photo.

Pearl Crescent

The females lay eggs on plants in the Aster family where the caterpillar will feed for a couple weeks. Older caterpillars are brown with yellow bands with many spines. There may be more than 3 generations per year, which would account for their being so common. The adults nectar at a wide variety of flowers and are often found near woodland edges.



Pearl Crescents
 This picture was sent to me by Steve Wenzl over at Out On The Prairie. He graciously agreed to let me post it here. I think it is a lovely photograph depicting these butterflies as they search for minerals on the rocks. Be sure to visit his blog it is a great mix of lovely pictures and journalism. Thanks Steve for the use of this photo.
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6 comments:

  1. Out on the prairieJuly 19, 2010 at 11:35 AM

    I like the finger shot. Always enjoy these little guys.Looks like we were posting at the same time.

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  2. Shelly CoxJuly 19, 2010 at 11:40 AM

    Thank you Prairie. I think these little butterflies are so pretty.

    I wish blogger had a device to let us know when fellow bloggers were online...kind of like a "chat" feature

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  3. Linda WJuly 19, 2010 at 11:11 PM

    The top photo is actually a Silvery Checkerspot. Looks almost identical to a Pearl Crescent, but it has that spot on the back of the hind wing that's not "filled in" like the rest.

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  4. Shelly CoxJuly 20, 2010 at 4:20 PM

    Linda---you aren't going to believe this....but I stared at that picture over and over....I looked in 3 different field guides and went to bugguide.net and could not decide which one it was. Something kept telling me it was the Silvery Checkerspot. I simply was too confused. Thank you for catching the mistake...and I will correct it.

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  5. Linda WJuly 22, 2010 at 12:26 PM

    Haha! I know what you mean! Been there, done that on the ID. Very nice photo though.

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  6. MobugsJuly 22, 2010 at 3:38 PM

    LOL Linda....I've done this more than once that's for sure...I guess that's how I learn trial and error.

    Thank you for the compliments. Did you check yet to see if you have the master naturalist event the same day as our insect-o-rama? I know you mentioned you thought they were the same day. I really hope you can make it....your collections of caterpillars were a huge hit.

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