E. L. Botha - Little Lepidopterist

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12

Little Lepidopterist

My First Field Guide

E. L. Botha

Contents

C opyright 2015 by E. L. Botha

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Red Admiral

Vanessa atalanta

T he Red Admiral is a black butterfly with orange bands and white spots. It eats nectar from flowers, and will also eat sap, rotting fruit, or decaying plants. It can be found in open areas throughout North America, Northern Africa, Europe, Asia, and New Zealand. Red Admirals cannot survive cold winters, so will migrate south or hibernate in the northern parts of their ranges.

When they are young, the caterpillars eat and live inside folded leaves. When they have eaten enough of their leaf-tent to leave them exposed, they move onto another leaf and create a new shelter. Their favorite plants are nettles.

Monarch

Danaus plexippus

T he Monarch is a large orange butterfly with black veins and white spots. It eats nectar, and is particularly attracted to milkweed. It can be found throughout the United States and is known for its long migration from Mexico to Canada during the summer months.

Monarchs use milkweed as their host plant, or the plant they use for food and shelter. Monarch caterpillars have huge appetites and can eat an entire milkweed leaf in less than five minutes! The caterpillar stage lasts from 9-14 days. The caterpillar then attaches itself to a leaf with a piece of silk before its skin hardens into a chrysalis. It emerges as a butterfly after about ten days.

Old World Swallowtail

Papilio machaon

T he Old World Swallowtail has yellow wings with black veins and a black border. It also has orange eyespots at the base of its hind wings. A member of the Swallowtail family, it has distinctive tails on its hind wings. It can be found in open areas, like fields and alongside roads. It eats nectar, and can be found throughout the United States.

Old World Swallowtail caterpillars eat parsley and sagebrush. When young, they prefer to eat the leaves. As they get older, they eat the flowers. Though the adult butterflies do not hibernate, the chrysalis can survive the winter. The adult butterfly emerges when conditions are right, sometimes waiting several seasons if the weather is too dry.

Malachite

Siproeta stelenes

T he Malachite is a brilliant green and black butterfly. It prefers to eat rotting fruits, but will also drink nectar. It can be found in orchards in Florida or in forests in Central America. Though uncommon, the malachite has established populations in southern Florida and southern Texas.

Malachites favorite plants are petunias, green shrimp plants, and black-eyed Susans. The caterpillars are black with red spikes and spiny horns on their heads. The red spikes can cause skin irritation if you touch them. When bothered, the caterpillar spits a green fluid.

Pipevine Swallowtail

Battus philenor

T he Pipevine Swallowtail has black forewings and blue hind wings with a row of orange spots. It eats nectar and will also drink water from puddles. It can be found in gardens and at the edges of woodlands throughout the Midwest, South, and Eastern United States.

Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars feed on plants in the pipevine family. Chemicals in these plants make the caterpillars and butterflies toxic to most predators. The chrysalis of the Pipevine Swallowtail is either brown or green, depending upon the surface the caterpillar chooses to pupate. The caterpillar can remain as a chrysalis all winter and emerge as a butterfly in the spring.

Great Purple Hairstreak

Atlides halesus

T he Great Purple Hairstreak is mostly black, with an orange abdomen, and iridescent blue on the topside of its wings. It eats nectar from a variety of flowers. It can be found throughout the southern United States.

The host plant for Great Purple Hairstreak caterpillars is mistletoe, a plant that grows on trees. When the caterpillars are fully grown, they move from the mistletoe to the tree and pupate under loose bark or in tree crevices. The caterpillars stay in their chrysalis form through the winter months and emerge as butterflies in the spring.

Red-Spotted Purple

Limenitis arthemis

T he Red-Spotted Purple has iridescent blue wings with red-orange spots. It can be distinguished from the Pipevine Swallowtail by the lack of tails on its hind wings. It eats rotting fruit, decaying organic matter, dung, and occasionally nectar. It can be found throughout the southern United States in forests, woodlands, and coastal plains.

The caterpillar of the Red-Spotted Purple uses camouflage to protect itself. It's brown, green, and white coloring looks like bird droppings. They prefer the leaves of cherry plants, including black cherry, pin cherry, and choke cherry. If the caterpillars hatch late in the season, they will build a shelter out of leaves to hibernate in over the winter.

Cabbage White

Pieris rapae

T he Cabbage White is white with black spots on its forewings. It eats nectar and is very common throughout the United States in gardens, fields, and other open areas. Though common in the United States, the Cabbage White is an invasive species here. Its native range is throughout Europe, Northern Africa, and South America.

The Cabbage White caterpillar prefers plants in the cabbage family as its host plant. The green caterpillars are considered a pest by many farmers, and can cause hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to crops such as cabbage, broccoli, kale, and horseradish.

American Lady

Vanessa virginiensis

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