Tattered Mourning Cloak

Here's the third Mourning Cloak I met this year. Unlike this earlier one, this butterfly has a much more tattered look to it.

Although my recollection of this encounter was that the butterfly was moving around, in the picture it looks like there's webbing attached to the wings and two branches. Though clearly it's not caught in a classic spider web, perhaps it was attacked/killed by something more like a crab spider that doesn't make webs to catch prey? Even if it was still alive, it's easy to think it was approaching the end of its life. This is a species that can survive a NJ winter and live around a year, though it probably takes a toll on their bodies.

I was a little surprised that I got an ID from iNaturalist on this one given that the distinctive light yellow/gold border is one of the casualties of the tattered wings. I guess that there are more people who recognized butterflies than there are people who recognize harvestmen.

June 10, 2021 at Duke Farms
Photo 136370711, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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