some butterfly identification tips including side-by-side...
TRANSCRIPT
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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
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• Strong inner
line of yellow,
dots in
addition to
outer line,
blue may be
almost absent
Black Swallowtail - Male
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• 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
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• 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
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• No inner
row of
orange
dots
• Tiger
stripes
often still
visible
Tiger Swallowtail - Female Dark Form
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• No tails
• No line of yellow spots
• Blue-green iridescence depends on lighting
Red Spotted Purple
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• 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
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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
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Silvery Checkerspot and Pearl Crescent
Silvery Checkerspot -- spot has white center
Pearl Crescent -- no
white center in spots
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Aphrodite and Great Spangled Fritillaries
Aphrodite
Great Spangled
Aphrodite
Strong light band
between rows
of silver spots
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Eastern Comma -- winter form
• No dash
above upper
outer dot
• Overwintering
form has
orange hind
wing
• Shows typical
dot in middle
of hindwing
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Gray Comma
• No dash
above upper
outer dot
• No mark in
middle of
hindwing,
usually
present in
other
commas
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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)
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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
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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