Family: Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies view all from this family

Description 1 3/8-1 3/4" (35-48 mm). Above, orange with black margins and wing bases, FW tip black, and row of black dots on HW. Below, FW orange with brown margin and pale crescents; yellowish HW has marginal band of white crescents interrupted by brown, plus median band of whitish ovals and whitish spots at base. Often silvery sheen to HW below. Upperside is darkest in Rockies, most orange in Manitoba.

Similar Species Gorgone Crescentspot has white arrowheads and sharp zigzag below. Harris' Crescentspot has reddish spot band below.

Life Cycle Eggs greenish; laid in clusters under leaves. Caterpillar black with orange stripes, white and purple specks, and many branching spines; overwinters half grown. Host plants are coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata), wingstem (Actinomeris alternifolia), asters (Aster), sunflowers (Helianthus), and crownbeard (Verbesina helianthoides and V. virginica). Chrysalis white with brown mottling, pearly-gray, or nearly black.

Flight 2 broods in South; March-September. 1 brood in North and Rockies; June-July.

Habitat Grassland and woodland streams, moist meadows, and open deciduous woods.

Range SE. Saskatchewan east to Quebec and south to Arizona, Texas, and Georgia.

Discussion Although the caterpillars employ both sunflowers and wingstems as host plants in the East, they seem to be restricted to coneflowers in the Rocky Mountains. Colonies may be detected easily by the brown blotches the caterpillars make on nibbled leaves. Adults sip nectar from coneflowers along cool mountain streams, where they often fly together with Atlantis Fritillaries. In swampy aspen groves, they can be seen with Pearly Crescentspots.