Butterflies
Day-flying lepidopterans with the world's most flamboyant wings.
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Blue Morpho Butterfly
Blue isn't paint — it's physics. Wings inspire holograms, fabrics, and solar cells.
Glasswing Butterfly
Wings you can read through. Anti-reflective coating better than most human glass.
Monarch Butterfly
Migrates 4,800 km — across four generations — to a forest none of them have ever seen.
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing
Largest butterfly on Earth — 28 cm. The first specimen was shot down with a shotgun.
Forest Giant Owl Butterfly
Owl-eye markings so realistic predators flinch and let her escape.
Tiger Swallowtail
North America's tiger butterfly. Yellow with black stripes. Caterpillar wears fake eyes and a smelly orange horn.
Tawny Emperor
Sister species to hackberry emperor. Same hackberry-host biology and human-sweat-landing behavior.
American Snout
Distinctive 'SNOUT' palps. Massive Texas OUTBREAK MIGRATIONS — sky-blocking butterfly clouds.
Hackberry Emperor
Forest brushfoot. LANDS ON HUMANS to drink sweat. Restricted to hackberry-tree forests in eastern NA.
Long-Tailed Skipper
Brilliant METALLIC GREEN-AND-BROWN skipper with long hindwing TAILS. Migrates from FL/TX/Mexico northward each summer.
Pearl Crescent
Small NA brushfoot with diagnostic PALE PEARL CRESCENT marking on the hindwing underside.
Falcate Orangetip
Tiny white butterfly with HOOKED forewing tips. Males have bright ORANGE wing-tip patches.
Great Spangled Fritillary
Large NA fritillary with brilliant METALLIC SILVER underside spots. Larvae OVERWINTER WITHOUT EATING.
Variegated Fritillary
Small migratory NA fritillary. Multiple generations. Re-establishes northern range each spring by migration.
Silver-Spotted Skipper
Most widespread NA skipper. Bright SILVER spot on hindwing underside flashes in flight.
Gulf Fritillary
Bright orange with brilliant METALLIC SILVER underside spots. Sequesters toxins from passion flowers.
Spring Azure
Bright sky-blue 'blue' butterfly. Emerges in EARLY spring. Larvae tended by ants for sweet secretions.
American Lady
NA sister to the painted lady. Distinguished by TWO large eyespots vs painted lady's four-five smaller ones.
Eastern Black Swallowtail
The 'parsley caterpillar' butterfly. State butterfly of OK and NJ. Female mimics toxic pipevine.
Cloudless Sulphur
Bright LEMON-YELLOW migratory butterfly. Millions migrate south through the eastern US each autumn.
Giant Swallowtail
LARGEST butterfly in North America. Caterpillar = the 'orange dog' citrus pest that mimics BIRD DROPPINGS.
Question Mark Butterfly
Folded wings look like a dead leaf. Tiny white SILVER QUESTION MARK on the underside.
Red-Spotted Purple
Mimics toxic pipevine swallowtail. Same species as the white admiral but evolved into a mimic in the south.
Spicebush Swallowtail
Black butterfly with iridescent blue-green hindwings. Larva looks like a SNAKE with eyespots.
Common Buckeye
Six prominent EYESPOTS on the wings. Predator-deflection defense. Partial migrant in NA.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Most familiar large NA butterfly. State butterfly of 6 US states. Female has YELLOW and BLACK pipevine-mimicking morphs.
Pipevine Swallowtail
TOXIC. Model for at least 5 mimic butterfly species. Caterpillars sequester pipevine alkaloids.
Viceroy Butterfly
Famous monarch mimic. For 100 years taught as Batesian (palatable) — 1991 proved her ALSO toxic.
Zebra Longwing Butterfly
Florida state butterfly. Eats pollen. Communal roosting. Males mate with females during pupal emergence.
Zebra Swallowtail
Tennessee state butterfly. Longest tails of any North American swallowtail. Eats only pawpaw.
Queen of Spain Fritillary
Largest silver underside patches of any European butterfly. Migrates north from Iberia and North Africa.
Brimstone Butterfly
Sulfur-yellow male probably gave English the word 'butterfly.' Lives up to 12 months. Leaf-shaped wings.
Comma Butterfly
White comma mark on hindwing underside. Ragged wing edges mimic a dead leaf. UK comeback species.
Orange Tip
Spring butterfly with bright orange wing tips (males only). Caterpillars are cannibalistic.
Small Tortoiseshell
Bright orange-and-black with blue marginal spots. First butterfly of European spring. UK population in steep decline.
Clouded Yellow
Bright orange-yellow migrant. Multi-generational annual migration. 'Clouded yellow years' bring billions north.
Peacock Butterfly
Four enormous peacock-eye spots. HISSES when threatened by rubbing wing veins together.
Silver-Washed Fritillary
Largest European fritillary. Lays eggs on tree bark, not the host plant. Caterpillar overwinters without feeding.
Common Blue Butterfly
Brilliant sky-blue. 75% of her family lives in mutualism with ants. Caterpillar feeds ants honeydew.
Postman Butterfly
Eats pollen — only butterfly that does. Lives 6+ months. Centerpiece of modern speciation research.
Indian Dead Leaf Butterfly
Wings closed — perfect dead leaf with veins and fungal spots. Wings open — brilliant blue-and-orange.
Apollo Butterfly
Translucent white alpine butterfly with red eye-spots. CITES protected. Climate-pressured upslope.
Cabbage White
Most agriculturally damaging butterfly on Earth. $200M+ in US damage per year. Loves cabbage.
Mourning Cloak
Lives 10-12 months. Flies across snow in winter. Drinks tree sap, not nectar. Solar-warmed wings.
Painted Lady Butterfly
Most cosmopolitan butterfly. Multi-generational 14,000 km migration across continents. Billion-strong year.
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing
Largest butterfly on Earth. 28 cm wingspan. Discovered by a collector who shot her with a shotgun.
Red Admiral
Long-distance migrant. Territorial males dive-bomb anything that moves through their patch.