possible veriagated fratillary - Phyciodes tharos

Moved

Moved from Butterflies (excluding skippers).

… David J. Ferguson, 16 November, 2013 - 3:42pm

Moved

… john and jane balaban, 17 August, 2013 - 6:56pm

They are confusingly similar,

and hard to distinguish (especially females) from only one photo. However, it looks more like P. tharos to me, and [I could be wrong], I would not expect Northern Crescents to be in Orange County.

… David J. Ferguson, 9 August, 2013 - 9:24am

Thanks for the info

I'm not familiar with Northern crescent so I appreciate the guidance. I haven't noted Pearls with so much light color on the median band of the forewing which I attribute to geographical; variation.

… Cliff Ivy, 9 August, 2013 - 10:12am

palor

i wonder whether the pale coloration is not related to its worn and aged state as i have seen in local swallowtails.

… A.D.Levine, 9 August, 2013 - 1:26pm

I think the worn condition

is quite likely a strong factor in this. It seems to be fairly common for the old beat up ones to have the middle of the front wing more pale than the rest. This applies to both species, and seemingly much more to females than to males. There could also be some geographic element to it too, since Pearl Crescents seem to be more commonly seen like this in the Northeast (though occasional ones can look like this anywhere).

… David J. Ferguson, 19 August, 2013 - 10:11am

I think the worn condition

is quite likely a strong factor in this. It seems to be fairly common for the old beat up ones to have the middle of the front wing more pale than the rest. There could also be some geographic element to it too, since they seem to be more commonly seen like this in the Northeast (though they can look like this anywhere).

… David J. Ferguson, 19 August, 2013 - 10:10am

A crescent

Either Pearl or Northern. Likely a Northern crescent.

… Cliff Ivy, 8 August, 2013 - 7:10pm

this is a female Pearl Crescent

Phyciodes tharos

… David J. Ferguson, 8 August, 2013 - 7:03pm