Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
BugGuide Gathering
Smoky Mountains
University of Tennessee Biological Field Station
August 8-10, 2008
 
Photos from the gathering
 
Photos from the 2007 gathering in Minnesota

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#109373
Phyciodes who? - Phyciodes pulchella

Phyciodes who? - Phyciodes pulchella
Oakland, Alameda County, California, USA
May 12, 2007
Size: 1.5" (?)
I thought maybe this butterfly was an aging, raggedy Field Crescent, but the antennal tips are definitely yellow. This individual was crawling all around the thistle flower. It was the only individual I saw looking like this; others in the same area included Field Crescents, Variable and Northern Checkerspots, and California Ringlets. On a densely vegetated, north-facing slope, at about 950 ft. elev. Found at about 11 am.

Images of this individual: tag all
Phyciodes who? - Phyciodes pulchella Phyciodes who? - Phyciodes pulchella

Field Crescent?
It looks to me like it might be a Field Crescent. Try this link and see what you think: http://bugguide.net/node/view/24563.

 
Field Crescent?
Clearly, mine looks like yours - except for the antenna tips which, in my case are yellow. Two printed field guides tell me that a Field Crescent will not have yellow anntenna tips. Different subspecies? Time to re-write the book?

 
Antenna Tips
I didn't notice the color of the antenna tips, so I don't know what to make of it. Interesting, though.

 
Phycoides campestris!
You were correct! According to Dr. Arthur Shapiro at UC Davis:

"It's an old female P. campestris (Field Crescent). The antennal club is
half brown (basal) and half yellow (distal). The median band is often
paler than the rest of the ground color, and on old specimens may fade to almost white (as here). Note that much of the hair has worn off the back of the thorax, another indicator of aging; I'd guess she was 2-3 weeks old. There is nothing at all unusual about her in the context of long series of the bug! Half the trick in a field guide is convincing readers that a certain amount of variation is to be expected."

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.