Jeff's North Carolina Butterfly Page

by Jeffrey S. Pippen | Jeff's Butterfly Page | Jeff's Nature Pages | CarolinaLeps Email List

North Carolina Butterflies

Approximately 174 species of butterflies are known from North Carolina. Most of these breed in the state, while some of them breed elsewhere but regularly disperse or migrate into the state. A few are rare strays with only a handful of records. All of my photos below are of live butterflies in the wild. Photos were taken under natural lighting using a Nikon CoolPix 4500 (2003-2005) or with a Canon EOS 20d using a flash (2006-present).

Swallowtails (Papilionidae)

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)
Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)
Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)
Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio appalachiensis)
Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)
Palamedes Swallowtail (Papilio palamedes)

Whites, Orangetips, & Sulphurs (Pieridae)

Checkered White (Pieris protodice)
West Virginia White (Pieris virginiensis)
Cabbage White (Pieris rapae)
Great Southern White (Ascia monuste)
Falcate Orangetip (Anthocharis midea)
Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice)
Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme) Updated! 24 May 2009
Southern Dogface (Zerene cesonia)
Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)
Large Orange Sulphur (Phoebis agarithe)
Orange-barred Sulphur (Phoebis philea)
Barred Yellow (Eurema daira) Updated!! 9 Jan 2009
Little Yellow (Pyrisitia lisa)
Sleepy Orange (Eurema nicippe)
Dainty Sulphur (Nathalis iole)

Harvesters, Hairstreaks, & Blues (Lycaenidae)

Harvester (Feniseca tarquinius)
American Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)
Great Purple Hairstreak (Atlides halesus)
Coral Hairstreak (Satyrium titus)
Edwards' Hairstreak (Satyrium edwardsii)
Banded Hairstreak (Satyrium calanus)
King's Hairstreak (Satyrium kingi)
Oak Hairsteak (Satyrium favonius)
Brown Elfin (Deciduphagus (Callophrys) augustinus)
Frosted Elfin (Deciduphagus (Callophrys) irus)
Henry's Elfin (Deciduphagus (Callophrys) henrici)
Eastern Pine Elfin (Incisalia (or Deciduphagus or Callophrys) niphon)
Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus)
Hessel's Hairstreak (Callophrys hesseli)
White M Hairstreak (Parrhasius m-album)
Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus)
Red-banded Hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops)

Ceraunus Blue (Hemiargus ceraunus)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas) Updated!! 11 Apr 2009
Dusky Azure (Celastrina nigra)
Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon)
Atlantic Holly Azure (Celastrina idella)
Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta)
Appalachian Azure (Celastrina neglectamajor)
Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus)

Metalmarks (Riodinidae)

Little Metalmark (Calephalis virginiensis)

Brushfoots (Nymphalidae)

American Snout (Libytheana carinenta)
Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae)
Zebra Heliconian (Heliconius charithonius)
Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia)
Diana Fritillary (Speyeria diana)
Mystery Fritillary Caterpillar (Speyeria sp)
Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

Aphrodite Fritillary (Speyeria aphrodite)
Meadow Fritillary (Boloria bellona)
Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)
Texan Crescent (Phyciodes texana)
Phaon Crescent (Phyciodes phaon)
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) Updated!! 26 Jun 2009
Mimic Crescent (Phyciodes incognitus)
Tawny Crescent (Phyciodes batesii)
Northern Crescent (Phyciodes selenis)
Baltimore Checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton) Updated!! 10 Jun 2009

Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) Updated!! 14 Jun 2009
Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma)
Green Comma (Polygonia faunus)
Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) Updated!! 18 Jun 2009
American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia)
White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) Updated!! 7 Jan 2009
Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax)
Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)
Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis) Updated!! 18 Jun 2009
Tawny Emperor (Asterocampa clyton)

Northern Pearly-eye (Enodia anthedon)
Southern Pearly-eye (Enodia portlandia)
Creole Pearly-eye (Enodia creola)
Appalachian Brown (Satyrodes appalachia) Updated!! 1 Jun 2009
Gemmed Satyr (Cyllopsis gemma)
Carolina Satyr (Hermeuptychia sosybius)
Georgia Satyr (Neonympha areolata)
Helicta Satyr (Neonympha helicta)
Mitchell's Satyr (Neonympha mitchellii francisci)
Little Wood-Satyr (Megisto cymela) Updated! 24 May 2009
Common Wood-Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Queen (Danaus gilippus)
Soldier (Danaus eresimus)

Spread-wing Skippers (Hesperiidae: Pyrginae)

Silver-spotted Skipper(Epargyreus clarus) Updated!! 1 Jun 2009
Long-tailed Skipper(Urbanus proteus)
Dorantes Longtail(Urbanus dorantes) Updated!! 8 Jan 2009
Golden Banded-Skipper(Autochton cellus)
Hoary Edge(Achalarus lyciades) Updated!! 18 Jun 2009
Southern Cloudywing (Thorybes bathyllus) Updated!! 26 Jun 2009
Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades) Updated!! 18 Jun 2009
Confused Cloudywing (Thorybes confusis)
Hayhurst's Scallopwing (Staphylus hayhurstii)
Dreamy Duskywing (Erynnis icelus)
Sleepy Duskywing (Erynnis brizo)
Juvenal's Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis)
Horace's Duskywing (Erynnis horatius)
mystery duskywings (Erynnis "messius")
Zarucco Duskywing (Erynnis zarucco)
Wild Indigo Duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae)
Appalachian Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus wyandot)
Common Checkered-Skipper (Pyrgus communis)
Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus)

Grass Skippers (Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae)

Swarthy Skipper (Nastra lherminier)
Clouded Skipper (Lerema accius)
Least Skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor)
Southern Skipperling (Copaeodes minimus)
European Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)
Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus)
Leonard's Skipper (Hesperia leonardus)
Cobweb Skipper (Hesperia metea)
Dotted Skipper (Hesperia attalus)
Meske's Skipper (Hesperia meskei)
Indian Skipper (Hesperia sassacus)
Peck's Skipper (Polites peckius)
Tawny-edged Skipper (Polites themistocles) Updated!! 16 Feb 2009
Crossline Skipper (Polites origenes)
Long Dash (Polites mystic)
Whirlabout (Polites vibex)

Southern Broken-Dash (Wallengrenia otho)
Northern Broken-Dash (Wallengrenia egeremet)
Little Glassywing (Pompeius verna)
Sachem (Atalopedes campestris)
Arogos Skipper (Anatrytone arogos)
Delaware Skipper (Anatrytone logan)
Byssus Skipper (Problema byssus)
Rare Skipper (Problema bulenta)
Hobomok Skipper (Poanes hobomok)
Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon)
Aaron's Skipper (Poanes aaroni)
Yehl Skipper (Poanes yehl)
Broad-winged Skipper (Poanes viator)
Dion Skipper (Euphyes dion)
Dukes' Skipper (Euphyes dukesi)
Berry's Skipper (Euphyes berryi)
Palatka Skipper (Euphyes pilatka)

Two-spotted Skipper (Euphyes bimacula)
Dun Skipper (Euphyes vestris)
Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna)
Crystal Skipper (Atrytonopsis new species I) (formerly called "Loammi Skipper on this website)
Pepper and Salt Skipper (Amblyscirtes hegon)
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes aesculapius)
Carolina Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes carolina)
Reversed Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes reversa)
Common Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes vialis)
Dusky Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes alternata)
Eufala Skipper (Lerodea eufala)
Twin-spot Skipper (Oligoria maculata) Updated!! 16 Feb 2009
Brazilian Skipper (Calpodes ethlius)
Salt Marsh Skipper (Panoquina panoquin)

Ocola Skipper (Panoquina ocola)

Giant-Skippers (Hesperiidae: Megathyminae)

Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae)
Cofaqui Giant-Skipper (Megathymus cofaqui)

Great Links

Notes on the Butterflies of North Carolina by Harry LeGrand and Tom Howard -- best source of NC butterfly info available! (This is the source of much of the information I present on each species page.)
Carolina Butterfly Society
Will Cook's Carolina Nature Site with lots of info about NC (and elsewhere) butterflies, birds, plants, and much more.
Randy Emmitt's Nature Photography with special attention to the Carolinas.
Ted Wilcox's NCWings.com
North American Butterfly Association South Texas Chapter
Search Butterfly Photos at Fotosearch

Jeff's Butterfly Page | Jeff's Nature Pages

Created on ... Apr 2, 2005 | jspippen@duke.edu