1

Some butterfly identification

tips including side-by-side

comparisons of similar species

Tom Peterson, IBMN Based on an intermediate training slide show

developed by

Mel Manner and Tom Peterson

All photos by Tom Peterson unless otherwise indicated

2

3

Viceroy line crossing

through

hind wing

Monarch

4

• Strong inner

line of yellow,

dots in

addition to

outer line,

blue may be

almost absent

Black Swallowtail - Male

5

• Top - Much weaker inner line of yellow with

separate spot near tip of wing

• Some blue on hindwing, but does not extend up

into hindwing above row of faint spots

Black Swallowtail - Female

6

• No inner line

of yellow dots

• No dot near

tip

• Lots of blue

on hindwing,

extending up

into center of

hind wing

Tiger Swallowtail - Female

Dark Form

7

• No inner

row of

orange

dots

• Tiger

stripes

often still

visible

Tiger Swallowtail - Female Dark Form

8

• No tails

• No line of yellow spots

• Blue-green iridescence depends on lighting

Red Spotted Purple

9

• “Red”

(orange)

spots on

underside

Red Spotted Purple

10

• Iridescent blue on

hind wing

• No row of spots on

front wing

• Only local population

thought to be in

Waterfall Glen FP,

but individuals

occasionally found in

other areas

Pipevine Swallowtail

11

Tiger(female dark form)

Black (female)

Red-spotted Purple

Pipevine

12

Small Yellow Butterflies

Clouded/Orange SulphurDonut spot in hind wing center

Little Yellow Red spot near

outer margin

of hind wing

Dainty

Sulphur Very small,

no hind wing

spots

13

Coppers

Bronze

Purplish

American male

femaleFemale�

male

14

Local Hairstreaks

Acadian

Coral

Banded Striped

Edwards(photo by

Tom Poklen)

15

Silvery Checkerspot and Pearl Crescent

Silvery Checkerspot -- spot has white center

Pearl Crescent -- no

white center in spots

16

Aphrodite and Great Spangled Fritillaries

Aphrodite

Great Spangled

Aphrodite

Strong light band

between rows

of silver spots

17

Meadow and Silver-bordered Fritillaries

Silver spots

on hind wing

underside

18

Eastern Comma

• Silver mark

on the

underside

looks like

the

punctuation

comma with

caps on end

19

Gray Comma

• More rare

• Gray on

underside

• Comma

tapers, no

caps

20

Eastern Comma -- summer form

• Upper front wing

• No dash above

upper outer dot

21

Eastern Comma -- winter form

• No dash

above upper

outer dot

• Overwintering

form has

orange hind

wing

• Shows typical

dot in middle

of hindwing

22

Gray Comma

• No dash

above upper

outer dot

• No mark in

middle of

hindwing,

usually

present in

other

commas

23

Question Mark

Has an “eyebrow”

over the eye

summer form

winter form

24

Question Mark

Underside silver punctuation mark includes a dot.

Note: shading of underside is variable among males

and females and between winter and summer forms.

Above are summer forms, male (left) and female (right)

25

Eastern Comma

Gray Comma

Question Mark

26

American Lady and Painted Lady

Hind wing underside

has two large

eyespots

4 - 5 small

eyespots

27

Hackberry ButterflyTawny Emperor Painted Lady

28

Pearly-eye (woods) Eyed Brown (marsh)

Common Wood-Nymphs (field, prairie)

Little Wood-Satyr (woods)

Wood-Nymphs

are very

common in our

fields and

prairies in

August.

Closely related butterflies with different habitat preferences

29

“Gang of Four” Sedge Skippers

DionBroadwing

Black Dash

Mulberry Wing

(photo by

Tom Poklen)

30Delaware

EuropeanLeast

Skippers with Plain Orange Underside

31

Peck’s and Long Dash Skippers

Peck’s: uneven lengths

of yellow patches, common

all summer into early fall

Long Dash: yellow patches

about same length,

only found in June

32

Skippers with Plain Brown Undersides

Northern Broken Dash

Tawny-edge

Dun