View a full list of all butterfly species and their descriptions, organized alphabetically by category.
The Silver-Spotted Skipper is characterized by a large white spot on the underside of each hind wing. It is one of the largest, most widespread, and most recognizable skippers. The Silver-Spotted Skipper is found throughout most of the United States and into southern Canada. Adults have the jerky flight typical of many skippers. They frequent…
The Variegated Fritillary is brownish-orange above, with a complex checkered pattern of black markings and dark dots. It has a black-rimmed, pale orange spot near the leading edge of the forewing and lacks silver spots. Its name is derived from the complex, variegated pattern of brown, orange, and white scaling on its underside. The Variegated…
The Sachem is a small grass skipper butterfly. It has a wingspan of 35 to 41 millimeters (1 3⁄8 to 1 5⁄8 inches). Males are orange, edged with brown, and have a large brown-black stigma. Females are darker with lighter markings in the center of the wing.
The Cloudless Sulphur is one of the most common and attractive butterflies and is particularly prominent during its southward migration in the fall.
The Eastern Tailed-Blue, also known as Everes comyntas, is a common butterfly of eastern North America. It is a small butterfly that is distinguished from other blues in its range by the small thin tail. Although all the blues may do some puddling, this species seems to be more prone to congregating in groups at…
The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is a species of butterfly native to eastern North America. It is one of the most familiar butterflies in the eastern United States, where it is common in many different habitats and travels as far north as Canada. It is a beautiful, large butterfly, usually in the range of 3.5 to…
The Red-Spotted Admiral is a North American butterfly species in the cosmopolitan genus Limenitis. It has been studied for its evolution of mimicry, and for the several stable hybrid wing patterns within this nominal species. This butterfly’s habitat is in open areas near woods. This butterfly likes to perch on bare ground of dirt roads…
The Pearl Crescent is a butterfly of North America. It is found in all parts of the United States except the west coast, and throughout Mexico and parts of southern Canada. Its habitat is open areas such as pastures, road edges, vacant lots, fields, open pine woods. Shortly after emergence, Pearl Crescents sometimes congregate in…
The Great Spangled Fritillary is characterized by its orange color above with five black dashes near forewing base and several irregular black dashes at the base of the hindwing. In addition, two rows of black crescents run along the edges of the wings. Females tend to be darker than males and individuals from the western…