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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)

Species Phyciodes tharos - Pearl Crescent - Hodges#4481

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Pearl Crescent - Phyciodes tharos - male Small Brown & Gold Butterfly - Phyciodes tharos Northern Crescent or Pearl Crescent? - Phyciodes tharos - male Pearl crescent - Phyciodes tharos - female Unidentified Butterfly - resembles Pearl Crescent (Phychiodes tharos) - Phyciodes tharos crescent butterfly - Phyciodes tharos Northern or Pearl #3 - Phyciodes tharos - male Trying Phyciodes tharos again - Phyciodes tharos
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)
Family Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)
Subfamily Nymphalinae (Crescents, Checkerspots, Anglewings, etc.)
Tribe Melitaeini
Genus Phyciodes (Crescents)
Species tharos (Pearl Crescent - Hodges#4481)
Hodges Number
4481
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
First described in 1770 (without the name- that came in an index that was published with the second volume in 1773) by Dru Drury as Papilio tharos
Explanation of Names
Phyciodes tharos (Drury, 1773)
tharos looks like it should be Greek, but isn't in the dictionaries. The closest is tharros (θαρρος), a variant of tharsos (θαρσος)- "courage", which has survived in Modern Greek- but even that doesn't seem likely.
Size
Wingspan: 3.5 cm
Range
e. NA to AZ-BC / Mex. - Map (MPG)
Habitat
Gardens, fields, roadsides and woodland edges. More restricted to streamsides in the west.
Season
summer in northern parts of range, much of year in South
Food
Larval foodplant: Asters. Adults take nectar.
Life Cycle
Flies most of the year in the south (1-3 or more broods)
Larva; chrysalis; adult
Remarks
Very common in the East.
See Also
Silvery Checkerspot, Chlosyne nycteis
Mimic Crescent, Phyciodes incognitus (recently described species from Southern Appalachians)
Northern Crescent, Phyciodes cocyta
Phaon Crescent, Phyciodes phaon, underside - see comments on this one for distinguishing marks:
    
Print References
Brock and Kaufman, pp. 176-177 (1)
Glassberg, p. 113, plate 32 (2)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - MPG
Butterflies of America - BOA
Illustrations of Natural History, v.1, p.43 - Drury's original description of the species (under "Fig.V and VI"), referring to figs 5 & 6 on Plate 21
Works Cited
1.Butterflies of North America (Kaufman Focus Guides)
Jim P. Brock, Kenn Kaufman. 2003. Houghton Mifflin Co.
2.Butterflies Through Binoculars: The East
Jeffrey Glassberg. 1999. Oxford University Press.
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Hannah Nendick-Mason, Steve Nanz, Beatriz Moisset, Chuck Entz, Mike Quinn, marcie oconnor
Last updated 1 March, 2024 - 2:18pm

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