Butterfly from Below - Asterocampa clyton

Asterocampa clyton

This is definitely correct. It looks like a male. The most obvious character to tell it from A. celtis in this shot is the pair of unbroken dark bars through the discal cell (only one if visible on the right side of the shot, because of the twig in the way).

Moved from Asterocampa.

… David J. Ferguson, 3 September, 2008 - 1:30am

Moved

Moved from Brushfooted Butterflies.

… Tom Bentley, 28 September, 2007 - 10:50am

Moved

Moved from Butterflies.

… Tom Bentley, 26 September, 2007 - 1:58pm

Empress Louisa

Possibly an Empress Louisa?

… Kenneth Dwain Harrelson, 27 August, 2007 - 10:15pm

No, the location's all wrong

No, the location's all wrong for that. This was New York. The only plausible Asterocampa here are the Hackberry Emperor and Tawny Emperor.

Looking through BugGuide (which shows many more underwing and folded wing views than my field guides) I suspect it's not Asterocampa. Still don't know what it is though.

… Elliotte Rusty Harold, 28 August, 2007 - 5:20am

Just a guess, but

I'd say Asterocampa. What do other folks think?

… Dave Gracer, 27 August, 2007 - 12:55pm

Correct Guess

I don't know why I didn't see it sooner, but Dave's guess was right on the money. I am convinced now, after repeatedly looking at this Butterfly, that it is a Tawny Emperor. The reason it looks like it does is because it's heavily backlit and that is causing the topside wing pattern to show through. Study the light-colored spots toward the outside of the forewings. They compare exactly to the ones on a Tawny Emperor. See what you think:

… Kenneth Dwain Harrelson, 6 September, 2007 - 2:49am