Question Mark

Here's another Question Mark Butterfly I met. As I've mentioned before, they are fairly easy to mistake for a close relative of theirs that's also in my area, the Eastern Comma. Here's a way to identify the Question Mark.

Six prominent spots surrounding one larger spot

Notice both wings have in the enclosed areas have:
  1. A large spot/blob near the edge of the wing. This is present in both species.
  2. The pair of large spots are both surrounded by 6 smaller but fairly observable spots, and the one closest to the point of the wing is longer/thinner than the others. This extra longer/thinner spot is absent in the Eastern Comma (and the less common Gray Comma and Green Comma).
Here's the original picture too.
August 18, 2020 at Duke Farms



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