 Agraulis vanillae (Gulf Fritillary) ♀♂. | Agraulis vanillae or Gulf fritillary is a striking orange butterfly. According to Wikipedia the color is a type of Batesian mimicry (of the noxious tasting Monarch butterfly?). They are common in the Southern states. Adults nectar on lantana and other flowers. The photos show a mating pair.
 A short video is available on my YouTube channel.wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Fritillary bamona: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Agraulis-vanillae | ||
 Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary). | The Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) is a permanent resident of the Southern US. They are nomadic and use numerous hostplants. They are difficult to approach and this one moved its wings most of the time which made it difficult to take a decent photo.
bug guide (this photo): http://bugguide.net/node/view/647097 | ||
 Heliconius charithonia - Hodges#4418 (Zebra Longwing). | What a beautiful butterfly! They can be found in Florida and Texas throughout the year. This specimen and a bunch of its colleagues were attracted by a blooming bottlebrush in front of my kitchen window. Since 1996, the Zebra Longwing is Florida's official state butterfly. Lots of information on this butterfly can be found in the wikipedia article. bug guide: http://bugguide.net/node/view/533 wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliconius_charithonia | ||
 Hermeuptychia sosybius - Hodges#4575 (Carolina Satyr). | This little butterfly is a Carolina Satyr. It lives in grassy places and woodlands. The species usually has two medium-sized eyespots on the hindwing, one small eyespot on the hindwing, and one on the forewing. In addition there are several minute eyespots and dark lines. They very rarely perch with their wings open, but when they do one sees only unmarked brownish gray wings.
bug guide (this photo): http://bugguide.net/node/view/1235311 | ||
 Junonia coenia (Common Buckeye). | The Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) has striking eyespots on the upper wing surface and can be found in the entire US except the Northwest. The eyespots are supposed to distract or scare predators. The ventral wings of the summer version ("linea") are light yellowish ventral wings; in the Fall morph ("rosa") they are pink.
bug guide (these photos): http://bugguide.net/node/view/569023 wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_buckeye |
