Satyr and Brown

Here's a Little Wood Satyr and Appalachian Brown from last June. "Satyr and Brown" aren't a law firm; they are a couple of moderately closely related butterflies collectively in the satyrini tribe. Note that in human groups I would expect a tribe to be a wider set of relations containing multiple families, but in taxonomy it's the opposite; the family is the wider group and can contain multiple tribes. So the Little Wood Satyr and Appalachian Brown are more closely related than some butterflies in their family.

Although the spots on the wings and (to a lesser extent) the lines on the wings allow us to distinguish between these butterflies, I suspect you can see a resemblance. Besides the similar background color and general wing shape, just having spots and lines (even if the spots and lines differ a bit) is suggestive of a relationship.

These family members could dine together, at least as adults. Both tend to avoid nectar and gravitate towards foods like sap from plants. Things would be different at the "children's table" though; Little Wood Satyr caterpillars like eating grasses while Appalachian Brown caterpillars enjoy eating sedges.

June 15, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve
Photo 300991812, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

June 15, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve
Photo 300992045, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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