northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here are a couple Pearl Crescents , fairly small and common butterflies here in New Jersey. At least they're supposed to be Pearl Crescents. There theoretically could be Northern Crescents around here too, though that species is generally considered to be only in northern NJ. The Northern Crescent wasn't even considered to be a species until the 1980s [1]; before that they were just considered to be Pearl Crescents. When research showed that the butterflies we now consider to be Northern Crescents could hybridize with Pearl Crescents but their offspring had lower survivability they were spun off into a separate species. This is another example of where the line between species is subtle, and even debatable. Or it could also be a Tawny Crescent . Tawny Crescents are also considered to be a very similar and more northern species, considered extirpated in NJ, so theoretically I can discount them entirely when doing identifications. I'm not certain they can hybridize with th...

Here's a Pearl Crescent butterfly I saw hiding in the grass, perhaps also catching some rays. Though I consider them fairly small butterflies, they usually tower over Eastern Tailed-blues, and Spring and Summer Azures. These guys would be a very tough ID if their Northern Crescent cousins lived down here. The 2 butterflies look quite similar, especially when individual variation is considered, but the Northern Crescent would be a bit out of range for the places I go. Somewhat surprisingly, these 2 butterflies generally don't hybridize where their ranges overlap, even though to us they look awfully similar. Another similar butterfly is the Silvery Checkerspot . Though my field guides suggest they could be in my area, the NJ chapter of the North American Butterfly Association's webpage doesn't mention them. Besides possibly being outside my area, the Silvery Checkerspot is a somewhat larger butterfly; I suspect the size alone would alert me that it's not a Pearl Cre...