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July 8-14, 2012
Omaha, Nebraska
Backyard butterfly weekly list. Number indicates the number of days sighted. Names in bold represent new sightings for the year.
Butterflies:
American Lady(2)
Red Admiral(2)
Cabbage White(1)
Eastern Tailed-Blue(1)
Skippers:
Peck's(2)
Tawny-edged(2)
Sachem(1)
Not a lot of time for observations last week, so the list is a bit thin. But what the week lacked in quantity it more than made up for in quality. For the first time I had an American Lady(Vanessa virginiensis) in my yard and it was in perfect condition. Not only that, but it let me get pictures of both the upper and underside. This lets us see all the unique characteristics of this beautiful butterfly. On the topside, the most prominent are the two large violet-centered eyespots on the hindwing. Painted Ladies sometimes have violet on their spots, but they are much smaller. Another, more subtle feature is on the forewing. Near the middle of each leading edge there are two triangles, one pointing forward and one pointing backward. In Painted Ladies these triangles are short, with each just passing the apex of the other. In American Ladies the apex of each triangle reaches or nearly reaches the base of the other.
The underside is even more distinctive. The two large eyespots on each hindwing are unmistakable.Painted Lady has four smaller eyespots. The other distinctive feature is the small white spot in the center of the the first pinkish-orange patch near the outer margin of the forewing. This feature is sometimes absent, as it is on the upperside in the above individual, but when it is present it is unique to American Lady.
The other noteworthy spoting for the week, and the only one I managed to get a decent picture of, was the Tawny-edged Skipper(Polites themistocles) I have to confess, at first I wasn't sure about the ID on this one. Based on pictures I've seen, it looked like a good candidate, but having never seen one around here I could not be sure. This was resolved yesterday when I saw an individual with its wings closed. With its wings closed the Tawny-edged Skipper shows the brown hindwing and the tawny edge of the forewing.
So, what are you seeing in your area?