Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Montana crescent ~ 07/02/14 ~ Donner Pass

male Phyciodes pulchella montana (formerly Phyciodes campestris montana)

If I wasn't careful, I might mistake the topside (dorsal) for a female Mylitta crescent!  Technically this is a subspecies of the field crescent, but considering I won't see this anywhere near where I live, I prefer to think of it as being a different entity entirely.  Our Monterey County field crescents (Phyciodes pulchella pulchella) are much darker than this, looking like a predominantly dark brown butterfly vs. an orange one.

3 comments:

Jeannette said...

Hi Katie, I like his striped antennae and his wings make me want to paint. How big was this butterfly? Nice photos.

Jennifer said...

Gorgeous colors and patterns!

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Hi Jeannette! Ya, since it's mud-puddling and not nectaring on a flower (useful for relative size), it's hard to tell, huh? Crescents are sorta small, about the size of a healthy skipper. Here's a good comparison photo next to the much larger fritillary (think monarch-sized): http://joeschelling.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/cresc-fritt.jpg