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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Butterflies and Skippers (Papilionoidea) » Brush-footed Butterflies (Nymphalidae) » Crescents, Checkerspots, Anglewings, etc. (Nymphalinae) » Melitaeini » Crescents (Phyciodes) » Pearl Crescent - Hodges#4481 (Phyciodes tharos)
Photo#289829
Pearl crescent with storm-damaged wings - Phyciodes tharos
Copyright © 2009 Abigail Parker

Pearl crescent with storm-damaged wings - Phyciodes tharos
Beck Park, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA
September 10, 2008
Photogragphed the day after a hurricane. The wings are heavily damaged, so the usual ID by wing shape, size, and pattern did me no good at all.

Key features that the storm didn't damage: relatively long palpi, banded antennae with orange-tipped knobs, greenish thorax.

(It's interesting that the wings were torn up with total symmetry, making it look like an undamaged individual of an unfamiliar species - those little swallowtail-shaped tatters threw me off completely.)

Plant: horsemint, Mentha sp.
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Contributed by Abigail Parker on 17 June, 2009 - 11:12am
Last updated 11 October, 2009 - 6:51pm

looks like
a beat up Pearl Crescent - Phyciodes tharos
… Bob Barber, 17 June, 2009 - 11:18am login or register to post comments

 
Yes, I do see the markings ma
Yes, I do see the markings match what's left of this butterfly's wings. I might have gotten there myself if the damage weren't so perfectly symmetrical that it looked like an undamaged different species!

Battered though it was, it seemed healthy and active, flying with speed and agility as it nectared over a patch of mint flowers. A very tough and resilient little butterfly!
… Abigail Parker, 18 June, 2009 - 4:28pm login or register to post comments

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