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Photo#160438
Pearl or Northern - Phyciodes

Pearl or Northern - Phyciodes
Brighton, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada
September 3, 2007
I am at sea with crescents. Could someone please help with ID of this butterfly? I noticed that there are no entries for Ontario for Pearl Crescent.

Probably unidentifiable
I would say that this bug looks more like a male Pearl Crescent than a male Northern Crescent, but it falls into an ambiguous area. In my experience, male Northerns usually have even more open orange areas and even less of a black median line on the hindwings. I would expect the forewing to be more orange, too. Having said that, male Pearl Crescents usually have more of a black median line on the hindwings, but they can appear like this bug, too. The antennal club tips might only be useful if you know your local populations well; they can vary in Pearls from black to orange. Without a really good handle on the crescents in your particular area, this one might be best left as a Pearl/Northern Crescent.

Northern Crescent
Not an expert but I believe this to be Phyciodes cocyta - based on orange tips on antenna clubs and hindwing with broad open orange area; the black lines are disappearing on both HW. Pearl crescent antenna tips are usually white.

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