Tag Archives: butterfly

Little Blue Butterflies

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The “tails” on the backside of the wings set the eastern tailed-blue apart from other relatives in our area

Though it’s one of the more common butterflies in this part of Nebraska, the eastern tailed-blue doesn’t get much attention.  One reason is that it is pretty small.  With a wingspan of about an inch, it isn’t much bigger than the white clover flowers it’s often feeding on in our yard.  Its name comes from the protrusions on its wings that set it apart from other blues (butterflies in the subfamily Polyommatinae).  The name “blue” comes from the striking color on the dorsal side of the wings of males.

An eastern tailed-blue displaying its incredible blue color while sitting on my finger.  I found this male in my yard and it was either too weak, tired, or sick, to fly away when I picked it up.  It provided an unusual look at the dorsal side of the wings of this species.

Blues rarely show the dorsal (top) side of their wings except in flight.  The rest of the time, all we get to see are the pale undersides of the wings, highlighted by dark spots and splashes of orange – the size and arrangement of which help distinguish species from each other.  There are several species of little blue butterflies found around here, including the Melissa blue and Reakirt’s blue, but 95% of what I see in the Platte River Prairies and in my yard are eastern tailed-blues.

The Melissa blue has much more orange on the ventral side of its wings than the eastern tailed-blue.  The endangered Karner blue, found only in a few isolated places in the eastern U.S. is a subspecies of the more widespread Melissa blue.

The eastern tailed-blue is far from the only tiny butterfly hiding in plain sight in prairies and yards across the country, but it’s an easy one to find if you start looking.  It’s also one you can feel confident identifying in front of friends and colleagues – assuming you can get close enough to see its little tails…

…the tails can sometimes be hard to see when the wings are completely closed…

Photo of the Week – August 3, 2017

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Quick note on this Saturday’s Field Day.  We will be there rain or shine, and have indoor presentations , if needed, if rain keeps us from seeing insects outdoors during part of the day.  Please come join us for this free event!

A painted lady nectars from lanceleaf blazing star in the Platte River Prairies this week.

All of a sudden, painted lady butterflies have exploded onto the scene here in central Nebraska.  They are fluttering around all the flowers in our yard and are abundant in our prairies as well.  Painted lady butterflies are migratory, but this latest flush isn’t due to a new set of arrivals from further south.  Instead, a new batch of adults has just emerged after spending the last several weeks as caterpillars in prairies and other locations – including soybean fields.

In soybean fields, the caterpillars are known as thistle caterpillars and feed on the leaves of the bean plants.  According to my father-in-law Orvin Bontrager, a long-time agronomist, they don’t usually do enough damage to impact yields, though the damage can look a little scary to farmers.  For the rest of us, there’s nothing scary about these welcome accents to wildflower patches everywhere.  Here are a few more photos from this week of painted ladies in my yard and nearby prairies.

…on black-eyed Susan in our yard

…on whorled milkweed in our yard

…on rosinweed in the Platte River Prairies

…on Flodman’s thistle (native wildflower) in the Platte River Prairies

 

(Fun fact – painted lady butterflies are found on every continent except Antarctica and Australia.  They also some make migratory flights that make monarchs look like amateurs.  Speaking of monarchs, they inhabit a larger slice of the earth than you might be aware of too…  Don’t get me started, I could spout insect trivia all day!)