Confirm Northern Illinois butterfly ID

bean_counter_z4

14 years ago

I hope you can confirm the ID on these butterflies. I'm just learning with the help of my field guide.

Hackberry Emperor?

Silver spotted skipper?

Some kind of Hairstreak?

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Comments (5)

MissSherry
14 years ago
The eyespots on the undersides of hackberry emperors have a black circle within a black circle, including a few on the underside of the forewings. Your butterfly looks to me like a tawny emperor, which lacks eye spots on the undersides of the forewings, just some white spots, and the eyespots on the undersides of the hindwings lack the black circles. So I think it's a tawny emperor/Asterocampa clyton.
The second picture is indeed a silver spotted skipper.
The third picture is in the spring azure complex. There are many different forms of it, but it's most likely a summer azure/C. ladon neglecta.
Nice pictures!
Sherry
bernergrrl
14 years ago
I'd love to see an Emperor butterfly! Congrats on it coming in your yard!
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bean_counter_z4
Original Author
14 years ago
Misssherry, thank you so much for your help. I'm learning--slowly to identify some of the more common ones. I googled the ones you suggested and they are clearly better choices than my guesses were.

We don't seem to have many butterflies this year. Usually my garden is full of tiger swallowtails, monarchs and cabbage whites. All the butterfly plants I've added are sitting awaiting some visitors.

My butterfly guide is obviously very limited because the summer azure and the tawny emperor are not included. I will look at new guide books on amazon.
BC
jrcagle
14 years ago
I've been very happy with Kaufman's and Glassberg over against Audubon or some other guides.

Kaufman throws the pictures, maps, and description all in the same location, which saves a LOT of flipping back and forth.

Jeffrey Glassberg's Butterflies through Binoculars emphasizes diagnostics and has good field pics.

The two books will also give you diametrically opposite views on the ethics of collecting.

Jeff
bean_counter_z4
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you Jeff. I'm making a note of those two books to look at first. I'm more interested in good, clear pictures than in politics or ethics since I'm not a collector. I enjoy hosting butterflies in my garden and would like to make correct identifications.
BC

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Confirm Northern Illinois butterfly ID

Comments (5)

MissSherry

bernergrrl

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Confirm Northern Illinois butterfly ID

Comments (5)

MissSherry

bernergrrl

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bean_counter_z4Original Author

jrcagle

bean_counter_z4Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

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CONNECT WITH US

bean_counter_z4
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