northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here are some Little Wood Satyrs from last year. You could quibble with the name: They aren't horse/man hybrids exhibiting loutish behavior ; they're actually butterflies . 😉 They're not made of wood. (Admittedly they do prefer wooded areas though.) Though they're a lot smaller than you and I (unless my readership includes small arthropods), there are a lot of smaller butterflies that don't have the "little" modifier in their name. (And it's not like we have similar-but-larger Giant Wood Satyrs flying around here.) Though far from being the "flashy dressers" of the butterflies, the contrast of the eyespots with their grayish-brown wings probably makes them good-looking in an understated way. June 21, 2023 at Fairview Farm Photo 301211200, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) June 21, 2023 at Fairview Farm Photo 301211416, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here are a couple of butterflies without fancy patterns or flashy colors that occasionally are mistaken for moths . They are a Clouded Sulphur and a Cabbage White , which are in the white and sulphur genera respectively, and both of which are in the same family of butterflies .  As smallish and somewhat plain-looking butterflies, you might not be surprised to learn they're somewhat related. The female Clouded/Orange Sulphurs can look virtually white, making the family resemblance even stronger. While I'm treating butterflies and moths as different groups under the lepidopterans , they're not exactly radically different groups. It's certain that butterflies evolved from moths ( when and why discussed here ), and so there's some reason to consider butterflies to be a subset of moths. This isn't too different from the people who consider birds/dinosaurs to be types of reptiles [1]. June 15, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 300993980, (c) jpviolette, so...

Here's an American Snout I met a few years back. A few days ago I talked about a lepidopteran with a similar name ( Baltimore Snout ) so I figured the American Snout for Throwback Thursday. Unlike the Baltimore Snout, the American Snout is a butterfly . Thus every single butterfly species is more closely related to the American Snout than the Baltimore Snout is. Still, butterflies and moths (aka lepidopterans) are pretty similar (and related) types of insects, and both these lepidopterans can have labial palps that look to us like a big, long nose. Whether the American Snout is also a moth is kind of a philosophical taxonomic question. Some people knowledgeable about insects consider butterflies to be a type of moth, very similar to the way mathematicians consider a square to be a type of rectangle. These people presumably consider the terms "moth" and "lepidopteran" to be synonymous. Others basically look at butterflies and moths as separate groups, where bu...

The "fly" terminology can be misleading. Lots of critters with "fly" in their names aren't true flies at all. Flies are insects with only a single pair of wings, differentiating them from the wasps/bees, the moths/butterflies, and the dragonflies/damselflies (among others). And unlike beetles where the 2nd pair of wings have evolved into wing-protecting elytra , the 2nd pair of fly wings have evolved into rotational sensing  halteres , enabling especially acrobatic flight. Here are a few of the non-flies with "fly" in their names. dragonfly != fly, dragonfly == odonate July 28, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 148654312, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) lanternfly != fly, lanternfly == bug July 28, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 148654536, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) butterfly != fly, butterfly == lepidopteran July 28, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 148654418, (c) jpviolette, some rights r...

I was thinking recently about all the organisms that benefit from milkweed plants. (Some but not all of these also apply to dogbanes.) Just like trees support insects, birds, squirrels, and lichen as either homes or food, on a smaller scale milkweeds provide similar benefits: Perhaps their most famous connection is to Monarch butterflies, whose caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweeds (mostly leaves). They're not the only lepidopterans whose caterpillars rely on milkweeds; the Milkweed Tussock Moths also eat milkweed (and dogbane). It's not unusual to find aphids on milkweed plants. Some aphids like the Oleander Aphid are invasive, but they are insects that frequently feed on milkweed plants. And if aphids are eating milkweed, this is also likely to attract lady beetles that want to eat the aphids. Finally, the aphid poop is a sweet substance called honeydew that frequently causes Sooty Mold to grow. (I don't recall seeing aphids on dogbane, but they're documented...

Here's a Question Mark I met a couple months ago. I've talked before about this species, so today I'll just relay a little " who's on first " conversation I had with someone at Duke Farms once (long before this picture was taken). I believe this was at the end of one of the tree ID hikes that Duke Farms used to routinely have. The exchange went something like this: A Question Mark butterfly lands on the road. Other person: Does anybody know what kind of butterfly that is? Me: That's a Question Mark. Other person: Oh, I was hoping you knew what kind of butterfly it is. Me: I do know what kind of butterfly it is. The name is a Question Mark. Other person: So you recognize the butterfly but don't know the name. I want to know the name of the butterfly. Me: The butterfly has a mark on its underwing that resembles the punctuation mark called a question mark, and so it's named the Question Mark. It is a cousin to other butterflies called Commas. Other ...

Here's a Red Admiral butterfly I met in late spring. As I suggested in an earlier post , a better name for them might be an Orange Admirable. (They were almost certainly named before we defined orange as a separate color from red, and "admiral" is probably a corruption of the term "admirable".) I've occasionally seen these butterflies together, but most of the time I see the lone Red Admiral. At least the males are considered pretty territorial, so seeing only one male in an area probably makes sense. This is a butterfly that will sometimes land on people. I suspect that they're males looking to drink up some sweat; this is another version of mud-puddling behavior . June 10, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 136368803, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a Red-banded Hairstreak I met in late May. The hairstreaks are a group of butterflies with a crisp/clean appearance, though they're not flamboyantly colored. We have a number of hairstreaks in NJ, though none of the others has such a prominent red/orange band like this little guy. Although NJ isn't a particularly big state, this butterfly demonstrates that small differences can matter a lot. It's believed that these butterflies overwinter as caterpillars in southern NJ counties but don't in northern NJ counties. (I'm not sure if the northern ones perform a mini-migration to southern NJ or are simply killed off in the winter.) May 28, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 133214304, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a Pearl Crescent butterfly stopping not to smell the flowers but to drink them, or at least their nectar. And while drinking all day long may have negative connotations for humans, the butterfly community endorses drinking heavily during daylight hours. And at least I think it's a Pearl Crescent; while the North American Butterfly Association says that's our only crescent butterfly , my field guides suggest the very similar Northern Crescent and Tawny Crescent might show up in New Jersey too. May 14, 2021 at Fairview Farm Photo 132038975, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's an American Lady butterfly I met a couple months ago. This picture might not be National Geographic quality, but there's one thing I like about it. It demonstrates the 2 ways to differentiate the American Lady butterfly from its Painted Lady butterfly cousin. If you have a view of the top of the wings, look for a small white dot completely surrounded by an orange region of the wing. American Ladies have that spot while Painted Ladies do not. And if you have a view of the bottom of the wings, you can see "eyespots" on the back wing. American Ladies like this one have 2 eyespots, while Painted Ladies have 4. Other than this, these 2 butterflies are pretty similar. Both are in the same genus, and both migrate to avoid northern winters. I think the Painted Ladies are more common overall; certainly I've seen more Painteds than Americans. May 14, 2021 at Fairview Farm Photo 132039233, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a group of Eastern Tailed-Blues engaged in mudpuddling , basically trying to get nutrients from the soil that they can't get from their nectar (basically sugar water) diet. This behavior is usually performed by males, though the benefits are transferred to the females as a nuptial gift during mating, and should improve the survivability of their offspring. The two butterflies on the right have their wings down and you can see how these tiny guys get the "blue" part of their name. It's harder to see the "tail" (really just a part of the hind wings that protrude out a little bit), though other looks have me confident of the identification. May 6, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve

Let's go for 4 butterflies in a row; here's an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail I met at Sourland Mountain Preserve last month. I'm pretty sure I've seen them earlier than this date, though this was my first picture of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail this season. These butterflies are fairly common around here since their caterpillars eat plants in the rose and magnolia families, fairly common plants. Up here they go into a dormant state during winter, and if all goes well resume their lives in the spring. This guy appeared to be mudpuddling, the term used when butterflies try and get nutrients like sodium and amino acids from mud, scat, or other sources. May 27, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 133210510, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

I met this Red Admiral butterfly at Duke Farms about a month ago. This is a little early for these butterflies who are more numerous later in the year. These guys migrate south to avoid our winters; it's likely that this guy was born down south and fluttered up to New Jersey as the weather warmed. The males stake out a territory and then fiercely defend it from other males. Of course, since they can't bite, scratch, or sting, fiercely defending a territory mostly consists of fluttering into their opponent as violently as possible. (My impression is that all females are welcome in their territory.) As caterpillars they're not picky eaters, eating most (all?) plants in the nettle family plus a smattering of other plants. This is probably why they live across North America, Eurasia, and North Africa, making it a fairly widespread species. May 4, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 128324505, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's someone I met last month at Duke Farms, a Black Swallowtail . This is the state butterfly of New Jersey, attaining that status about 5 years ago . Note that not all NJ butterflies that are black are Black Swallowtails; Spicebush Swallowtails, Pipevine Swallowtails, and some female black morph Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are common butterflies that are black. Still, the rich black and the bright yellow spots generally give these guys a different look than most of the others. As caterpillars these guys mostly eat foods in the carrot/parsley family. Some of these plants you can eat (including celery, dill, and fennel), and some plants you can't (the invasive Poison Hemlock and at least some of the native Water Hemlocks). So if one of their caterpillars invites you over for dinner, make sure you ask what they're serving. May 4, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 128324584, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a Mourning Cloak butterfly I met back in April. This is one of our more cold-tolerant butterflies, partly because they don't die in the winter but just enter a period of dormancy until things warm up again. The other reason you can see them early in the season is because they'll drink tree sap that's available before nectar is available from most blooming flowers. Though I'm sure of my butterfly identification, the Mourning Cloak I met isn't as colorful as ones at their color peak. A brown butterfly with rimmed with purple spots and gold trim at this stage of life looks dark brown with an off-white trim. Still, this fella looks in pretty good condition, with mostly intact wings. Though I've heard that in large numbers these butterflies can be somewhat damaging to trees, I've never gotten the impression they're numerous enough around me to be worth worrying about. As a native species, tree defenses, predation from other animals, and their para...

Here's a type of butterfly I've been meeting quite a bit over the last month, the Eastern Tailed-Blue . You might be asking "where's the blue?". This isn't a case of weird lighting or individual color variation; this is a female, and they are more gray than blue. With the wings up, you would see a small, primarily white but slightly speckled butterfly. If you look closely, you can see a pair of "tails", which are little parts of the rear wing that protrude out a bit. (They appear white-black-white in this picture.) Those tails make for an easy identification here in New Jersey, since it rules out the Spring and Summer Azures. May 2, 2021 at the Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve Photo 128321541, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's the first Silver-spotted Skipper I've met this year. Though a fairly small butterfly overall, they are relatively large for a skipper butterfly. And they're fairly distinctive, mostly dark brown but with some tan and white patches on the wings. I don't think they're the most common skippers around here, though their size and coloring probably makes them the easiest ones to identify. Though the one in the picture below is kind of camouflaged, a lot of time you'll see them stand out more as they nectar on flowers. As kids (aka caterpillars) they use various legumes as host plants.  April 28, 2021 at the Plainsboro Preserve Photo 128318607, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a Cabbage White Butterfly I met. I'm not exactly sure what they're eating this time of the year (I doubt if farmers have their cabbage crop coming up yet), but they do eat a lot of plants in the cabbage/mustard family of plants. Right now they're dominating the butterfly scene around me. I've seen dozens of them, and maybe 3-4 of everything else. Despite having a fairly plain look, these are considered butterflies as opposed to moths. Still, these two insects are obviously related, and some people that appear knowledgeable consider all butterflies to be moths rather than a distinct group of insects. (Admittedly butterflies and moths have a common ancestor.) April 3, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 120284772, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Yesterday I originally thought I was seeing 4 Cloudless Sulphurs mudpuddling, but then I noticed that I also photographed a Sleepy Orange almost immediately after that picture. Looking back at the picture with the 4 butterflies, the edge-on one on the left looks quite a bit smaller than the 3 Cloudless Sulphurs for which we have a good view. I'm now thinking that the small one was one of our smaller sulphurs, and likely to be this guy below. Similar to birds, a lot of times you'll see different species feeding together mostly peacefully (though I think birds do have a "pecking order" that probably doesn't occur in butterflies). August 18, 2020 at Duke Farms

Here's an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail I met. Notice that the right "tail" of the wing has been torn off. I'd like to tell you "you should've seen the other guy" as though this was incurred in a fight with a rival, but I doubt there's a butterfly with the arsenal to do anything like this. For that matter, it's unclear that any of our arthropod predators (e.g. robberflies, dragonflies, mantises, centipedes, spiders) would do this sort of damage; I suspect that this is the sort of damage you would get from a bird beak. (A bat might also do this, though I wouldn't expect this butterfly to be active at night when bats are most active.) August 18, 2020 at Duke Farms