northeast-flora-and-fauna

Don't you hate it when you flutter over to a nectar source to get a drink, only to be killed by a a spider? That appears to be the situation for this unfortunate  Painted Lady butterfly. As tragic as this is for the butterfly, spiders have to eat too. (Cue the Circle of Life music.) This picture doesn't provide a good look at the spider. I'm suspicious of a crab spider because they don't trap prey with webs and they're known to lurk near flowers in hopes of grabbing a pollinator. ( Wolf spiders don't use webs either, but I think they're usually on the ground, and are more like active hunters rather than passive ambush predators.) I wish I had a good look at the legs; a lot of the crab spiders have front legs that are much longer than their back legs. I'm afraid all I can authoritatively tell you about the spider is that it didn't starve on this day. July 14, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 148186889, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

I've been a little disappointed that I haven't seen more Painted Lady (or their American Lady cousins) this season, but I did find a pair early in the summer at Sourland. (I believe these are pictures of separate butterflies, though all I can say for sure is that there were 2 there, and they'd occasionally flutter in the same general airspace, making it hard to track the individuals.) This is considered the most widespread butterfly in the world, with populations living in the Americas and in Eurasia/Africa. They also engage in absurdly long migrations, especially some that range from Africa to northern Asia. You can tell the first picture is a Painted Lady because the orange in the forewing lacks a small white dot. That dot is a key differentiator from the American Lady. June 25, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 141962788, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) In the second picture we can see the underwing. If you look at the hind wing, you should be ab...

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)