Appalachian Brown

Here's an Appalacian Brown I met in the waning days of summer. 

I've shown an open-winged one before, though this view makes it a little easier to ID them. They're very similar to the Eyed Brown, but notice the dark lines on the underside of the wing. In an Eyed Brown, those lines should be much more zig-zaggy. I don't think we have many Eyed Browns around here, but it's probably a good idea to ID these carefully. (From a view of the top of the wing it would be awfully difficult to distinguish these guys.)

Another butterfly that has a similar wing pattern that you can definitely find around here is the Northern Pearly-eye. You're supposed to tell them apart because the Northern Pearly-eye has light, nearly-white fringe around its eyespots.

All 3 of these species are, as you might suspect, related. 

September 8, 2022 at Fairview Farm
Photo 248397096, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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