July 5th, 2006
white admiral butterflies
For the past few weeks, I’ve been seeing quite a few White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis) butterflies in the woods and forest edges here at the farm. I tend to find them basking on leaves in dappled forest light. They also seem to burst out of the inner branches of the Poplar and Willow trees along one of our hiking trails. They do a lot of erratic flitting from tree to tree, spending only a moment on a leaf before moving on. I suspect they may be laying eggs during their brief pauses.
On July 3rd, I found a very small caterpillar on a Salix leaf in the area where the White Admirals have been particularly active. The caterpillar is brownish-black with white markings. It has spiny horns and a dorsal hump. When disturbed, it curls its head to one side and flattens its horns. When in this position, it very much resembles a bird dropping (see photo on left – click on image for larger view). Some of you may recall a rather similar shaped, but green-colored caterpillar that I posted a photo of back on May 25th. I believe it too was a White Admiral as the caterpillar usually turns greenish-grey as it reaches full size. The caterpillar of the Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) is quite similar, in fact, difficult to distinguish from that of the White Admiral, so there’s a chance it could have been one of those.
Back in early June, I also found an irregular-shaped black, gray and white chrysalis attached to a Poplar tree in the same vicinity as both the black and the green caterpillars. I wasn’t able to find other photos of a White Admiral chrysalis online for comparison, but this one (click on image for larger view) seems to fit the written description. I visited and photographed it almost daily for over a week until one day I found it empty with the butterfly departed. Nice to see that it seemed to be successful in its metamorphosis.
The butterfly below was found here at the farm a couple of weeks ago. This photo provides a decent view of the underside markings of the wings. While the upper side of the wings is mainly black with a broad white band, the lower side is very heavily marked with turquoise and brick red spots and dashes.
White Admirals are known for some confusing variations in markings. In fact, there is a subspecies without white bands, and there are hybrids between these. In fact, White Admirals are also supposed to be able to hybridize with Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) butterflies as well (they are both members of the same subfamily Limenitidae). I’m quite sure that the butterfly in the photo just below is a hybrid of some kind as I’ve never seen another that had such extensive turquoise markings and a sort of overall “haze” of turquoise over the black sections. Compare it with the example at the top of this post (click on both images for larger views). The one at the top is a little different again, with quite extensive brick-red spots on its upper hind wings. Most examples of this species that I’ve seen have somewhat less distinct reddish markings on their upper wings. I should also mention that the butterfly at the bottom of this post was photographed about 50 miles south of here at a location on the Canadian Shield, while the one at the top was photographed here at the farm. I think these photos provide a good example of how useful it is to keep photographic records of insect specimens – especially when you notice individuals that are a little out of the ordinary. It’s also interesting to compare specimens from different locations to watch for regional variations.
Tags: White Admiral, Limenitis arthemis, Viceroy, Limenitis archippus, chrysalis
July 6th, 2006 at 11:15 am
What a great photoessay on a fantasticly variable species. My first thought usually when encountering something like this is – how do they know the variants are all the same species?
I realized last year (and had to review my post and my little Zim book today to make sure) but we do have the Red-spotted Purple, which is (?) the same thing as your white. It looks like the ranges are right – I’ve never seen a true white like yours and predict you don’t have the red-spotted variants. They do overlap their ranges but south of you and way north of us.
Here they apparently mimic the unpalatable pipevine swallowtails and indeed I have to take a second look to see that it’s not a swallowtail.
July 6th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Wayne – Thanks! Yes, the White Admiral (L. arthemis arthemis), and the Red-spotted Purple (L. arthemis astyanax) are the same species. Regarding the subspecies, in Butterflies of Canada (Layberry, Hall, Lafontaine), describe a third subspecies (L. arthemis rubrofasciata) that has completely red spots on the hind wings. Apparently, that species is from Manitoba westward. Your subspecies (astyanax) has been reported mainly in the most southern part of Ontario. Apparently, there are hybrids between the two subspecies arthemis and astyanax, that are found throughout central Ontario, south of the Canadian Shield, well beyond the range of astyanax. I think that’s what the butterfly at the bottom of my post might be — a hybrid of arthemis and astyanax. It says of them:
Size is also a point which I should have mentioned. I see a terrific variation in size among the Admirals. The hazy turquoise example up above was huge compared to most Admirals I’ve seen — a very striking butterfly.
July 6th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
See, now this is why IDing butterflies and moths is so hard for novices like Roger and me. I’m sure over time we may get better at it, but who’s got a hundred years? These are beautiful variations. The colors are so vibrant.
Interesting caterpillar camouflaged as bird droppings. A wonderful defense mechanism.
July 6th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
Robin – IDing butterflies, dragonflies, moths, etc.. really is quite difficult at the beginning. Don still doesn’t know more than a handful of the species, but he knows the most of the common ones that we encounter, and that actually accounts for quite a few. I should tell you that I still feel like quite a novice when it comes to most insects as I just don’t have the specific knowledge of those people who are very focussed on a certain group of insects. For example, last summer, I was invited to exhibit my dragonfly photos at an Odonate conference (Dragonfly Society of the Americas), and ended up going out on two days of field trips with a large group of people who are very dedicated to that particular order. I’m just not in the same league as almost anyone who was there as far as IDing dragonflies. I probably know about 30 species quite well, but beyond that, I have to start flipping through my field guides. It was sort of overwhelming to be in the midst of a group of people who are shouting things like, “I’ve got a Celithemis eponina over here!” or “I just saw an Aeshna umbrosa hanging from a tree branch up there!” Don and I were laughing at how pathetic we felt while surrounded by people who really know their species. So, don’t feel too frustrated if you don’t know many species just yet — your knowledge will grow, and in the meantime, just enjoy the insects for their fascinating behaviour and appearance. That’s really what everyone is doing regardless of whether they’ve got a name for the insect.
July 7th, 2006 at 7:31 am
When you mentioned variations, it reminded me of the variations I’ve seen among Mellicta athalia.
July 7th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Romunov – I had to look that one up as the name didn’t sound familiar. I see it’s the Heath Fritillary in Europe and the UK. I think some of the Fritillary butterflies in North America have considerable variation as well.
October 14th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
[…] I haven’t said too much about the insects that I’ve seen along the way during my wanderings in California and Oregon. In truth, I haven’t seen quite so many as I thought I might. Whether that was due to the time of year, the weather, my lack of diligence in looking, or some other factor, I haven’t got a heck of a lot to show for a few weeks of wandering. However, I did manage to photograph a butterfly which I’ve seen in a few places along the northern California and south Oregon coast. At first glance, they look a lot like the White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis) butterflies that we see in the northeast. However, these are California Sister (Adelpha bredowii californica) butterflies. They are easily distinguished by the large orange patch near the tip of the wings. They also have an interesting patch of teal with brick-red barring on the leading edge of the wings. The underside is a swirly, marbled mix of gray and orange-tan. […]