Pearl Crescent Graybeard

Here's a Pearl Crescent butterfly that's clearly seen better days. Some of the color has faded, its wing pattern no longer looks sharp, and there's also some parts of the wing missing. While many butterflies only live as adults (this excludes egg/larva/chrysalis stages) for 2-4 weeks, this webpage suggests that Pearl Crescents live much longer than that, 6-12 months. (I wonder if that lifespan variation differs with location; it's easy to imagine them living longer in southern regions.)

Though far from our smallest butterfly, the Pearl Crescent's wingspan is only about an inch. I suspect that if they were the size of Monarchs, they'd elicit almost as many "oo's and ah's" as their larger relatives.

May 31, 2021 at Duke Farms
Photo 133215618, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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