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

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#78175
Pearl Crescent - Phyciodes tharos

Pearl Crescent - Phyciodes tharos
South Georgia, Ware County, Georgia, USA
September 19, 2006
Size: wing span - 2cm maybe
Image taken in grassy area near pine clearcut.

This photo is very useful
Because it almost single-handedly punctures the theory of antennal clubs as a clue to ID. Here is what appears to me to be a classic, typical Pearl Crescent, taken in southern Georgia (well out of Northern Crescent range, I am guessing?), with orange antennal clubs.

Of course, there is currently a splitting frenzy in butterfly taxonomy, so there will eventually be a Crescent species for every state in the country.

 
Pearl Crescent
Orange undersides of the antennal clubs are useful for separating Pearl from Northern or Mimic Crescent only in males. This butterfly is a female (from the shorter, more pointed abdomen), so it's not a useful mark for ID here.

 
I see
Is there, apart from range, a definitive field mark for females that isn't negated by variability?

 
Thanks. I'll move image to th
Thanks. I'll move image to tharos for now.

Why isn't it
a Pearl Crescent? That's what I always ask myself in Ohio.

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