They are excellent candidates for butterfly feeders and puddlers. The male has blue wings with a black-brown border and a … The caterpillars weave silk tents for shelter on the leaves of the plants. They have a short life span of only two weeks, and spend this primarily around their favorite flowers: clover and sweet thistle.

Identify Butterflies. A dazzling sight to behold, the Ulysses has unfortunately declined in numbers in the past few years. The most common symbolic meaning for a blue and black butterfly is rebirth, or resurrection. Their eggs can also be found on apple trees and poplars. [5], Many taxonomists only include the Lycaeninae, Theclinae, Polyommatinae, Poritiinae, Miletinae, and Curetinae under the Lycaenidae. You have some beautiful butterflies in Oklahoma! Thanks for reading! I've never been to Florida, but I noticed when I was doing the research for this that several of these were in Florida as well. With a wingspan of 5.5 inches, this large butterfly can be easily spotted from far away. Not only are they enjoying the nectar your flowers have to offer, but they can re-hydrate by drinking from birdbaths, moist soil, and special puddlers made for butterfly watering.

On this page we'll help you identify butterflies you may see in your garden or in the field by their shape, wingspan, opened and closed wing color, common name and family name.
Add some of these favorite, savory plants to your flower bed to attract the swallowtail as well as other species. contact the webmaster with comments,

This small butterfly has a small wingspan of one inch. Reakirt's Blues are also very adaptable and eat a variety of plants, which helps them survive any changes in their ecosystem. Pages 264-300 in: Boyle, J. H.; Kaliszewska, Z. "The ecology and evolution of ant association in the Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera)", "The higher classification of the Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera): a tentative arrangement", "Family Lycaenidae - Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks, Harvesters", National Center for Biotechnology Information, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lycaenidae&oldid=983224955, Short description is different from Wikidata, Encyclopedia of Life ID different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. I would love to see the monarch festival, but haven't had a chance yet. They have up to a four-inch wingspan. Lycaenids are diverse in their food habits and apart from phytophagy, some of them are entomophagous, feeding on aphids, scale insects, and ant larvae. Some great plants to attract butterflies to your yard and garden: This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional. We are in the process of compiling digital photos of these species from club members and other Massachusetts butterfly photographers. :). "The butterflies: Hedyloidea, Hesperioidea, and Papilionoidea". Many years ago there used to be butterflies around every where, but I've notice lately that if you do see some that the birds catch them (especially the kingfisher) and eat them. Butterfly Identification Chart Photo credits: Master Gardeners, Kathy Enquist and Teresa Knipper Great Spangled Fritillary Orange Sulphur Clouded Sulphur Black Swallowtail Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Spicebush Swallowtail Painted Lady American Lady Red-spotted Admiral It frequents forest clearings, edges, and waysides. Five species of butterfly have become extinct in the last 150 years. An eversible organ called the "tentacular organ" is present on the eighth abdominal segment and this is cylindrical and topped with a ring of spikes and emits chemical signals which are believed to help in communicating with ants. As its common name implies, the blue morpho butterflys wings are bright blue, edged with black. Like many butterfly species, gender can be determined by colour. It takes up to 6 weeks for a complete metamorphosis to occur. In some warmer regions, these butterflies will fly all year. Jayme Kinsey (author) from Oklahoma on September 19, 2012: @ Denise--Thank you very much for the visit and shares! BTW--I love your little butterfly page divider...please share how you did that. If you keep a a small dish filled with moistened sand and gravel, you may get the priviledge of seeing a large swarm of showy males as they drink.
These butterflies store chemicals known as cardiac glycosides in their bodies, which makes them an unpleasant snack for predators. The natural world is just so wonderful. This butterfly species only can be found in England. They also like rotting fruit and sap. This page was last edited on 13 October 2020, at 00:25. Denise Handlon from North Carolina on September 19, 2012: I just added this beautiful hub to my butterfly one and I am getting quite a kick out of these additions. I did learn that a cocoon and a chrysalis were not the same, and there were more lovely pix. I took a lot of butterfly and insect pictures last year, and intend to do so again this year. The sound is can be heard by humans from up to 30 metres away! Adults enjoy a larger buffet; plants that they will eat include azaleas, milkweed, thistle, honeysuckle, and petunias. One of Ireland’s most colourful butterfly, the Common Blue male is a beautiful shiny blue with a brownish border and white fringing at the edges of the wings. The adult butterflies will only occasionally visit flowers. Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies.They constitute about 30% of the known butterfly species. I did have a lot of Red Admirals this year, and some Viceroys and Sulphurs.