Pearl Crescent butterfly Phyciodes tharos. Photograph taken by the author.Copyright © 2024 Now I Wonder. All rights reserved.

Brush-footed Butterflies – family Nymphalidae*

Sub-families include

  • Heliconiinae – Longwings and Fritillaries
  • Nymphalinae – Crescents, Checkerspots, and Typical Brush-foots
  • Limenitidinae – Admirals, Sisters, and relatives
  • Charaxinae – Leafwings
  • Apaturinae – Emperors
  • Libytheinae – American Snout
  • Danainae – Milkweed Butterflies
  • Satyrinae – Satyrs

*Different classifications exist, with some sub-families treated as independent families.

General Characteristics

  • Very large and varied group.
  • Species vary widely in size, appearance, and habits.
  • These butterflies appear to have only four legs, instead of the six legs expected of all insects.
    • The front pair of legs are vestigial; much reduced and not used for walking or perching.
  • The term “brush-foot” derives from the appearance of the front pair of legs, which are very short, covered in fine hair, and resemble bottle-brushes.

To jump to the details for each individual species, click on the animal’s name in the list below.

To see the full list of every animal included in Now I Wonder, please visit the Index page.

Index Of Brush-footed Butterflies By Name

Species

American Lady Butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis)

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)

Genus species

Vanessa virginiensis

  • Other common names for the American Lady butterfly are “Hunter’s Butterfly”, “American Painted Lady”, and “Virginia Lady” (Pyle 1981).

How To Identify American Lady Butterflies

  • Wingspan: Up to 2.1 inch (5.4 cm)
  • Above:
    • Forewings are broad, with squared-off wing tips.
      • Orange, black, and white.
      • Black-tipped with white splotches
      • Broken black markings
      • Most individuals have a tiny white spot in a patch of orange close to the wing edge.
    • Hindwings are orange and black
      • Row of small, black-rimmed blue spots along margin
      • Spots sometimes blur into each other
  • Below:
    • Forewings have large pink patch.
    • Hindwings have intricate, lace-like pattern of cream, beige, and tan.
    • Two large eye spots on field of beige by edge of each hindwing.
    • Below: Large pink patch.
  • American Lady butterflies look similar to another “lady” species of butterfly called the “Painted Lady” (Vanessa cardui).
    • A helpful mnemonic to distinguish the two is “American ladies have big eyes and an open mind”.
      • American Lady (V. virginiensis) butterflies have two large eyespots on the underside of their hind wings, which Painted Lady (V. cardui) butterflies lack, thus the “big eyes” portion of this saying.
      • The black markings on the top surface of American Lady (V. virginiensis) butterfly forewings don’t connect, while those on Painted Lady (V. cardui) butterflies do, thus the “open mind” portion of this saying (Glassberg 1999).

How To Find American Lady Butterflies

  • Flight Season: American Lady butterflies fly between early April and October.
  • Look for adult American Lady butterflies in open spaces, like meadows, fields, and roadsides, and along stream beds.
    • American Lady butterflies fly off readily when approached.
    • But if you spook one of these butterflies, just keep still and be patient—they often come back to the same general area within a few minutes (Daniels 2003).

How To Identify American Lady Eggs, Caterpillars, And Chrysalises

Eggs

  • Female American Lady butterflies lay small, pale green, barrel-shaped eggs. They lay their eggs one at a time on the tips of host plant leaves (Daniels 2003).

Caterpillars

  • Grow to approximately 1.25 inches (30 mm) long (Bartlett Wright 1993).
  • Vary in base color but usually dark.
  • Long, black, branched spines project from abdominal segments, with red patches visible at base of each spine.
  • Thin black and cream stripes separate thoracic and abdominal segments.
  • Look for American Lady caterpillars on plants in the Aster family (Asteraceae), like:
    • Sweet Everlasting (Gnaphalium obtusifolium)
    • Plantainleaf Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia)
  • American Lady caterpillars create shelters for themselves by spinning silk around leaves. The caterpillars hide from predators in these inconspicuous shelters when they aren’t actively feeding.

Chrysalises

  • American Lady chrysalises are brown and spotted in gold (Pyle 1981).
  • Often hidden inside the caterpillars’ leafy shelters (Bartlett Wright 1993).

Common Buckeye Butterfly (Junonia coenia)

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)

Genus species

Junonia coenia

Junonia coenia

  • Common Buckeye butterflies are large butterflies and easily recognized thanks to several large, multi-colored eyespots, two orange forewing bars, and a habit of perching on open ground with wings outstretched.
  • Common Buckeye caterpillars eat so many different kinds of plants that they can help control weeds in home gardens (Bartlett Wright 1993).
  • Common Buckeye butterflies are cold-sensitive and fly south to the southern United States during the winter. They mostly travel along river valleys and re-colonize the northern reaches of their range every spring.
  • Male Common Buckeye butterflies are territorial and often fly out to meet moving objects. This trait, along with a liking for perching on bare ground, helps make these butterflies easy to observe from a distance. However, they are wary and likely to fly off when approached.
  • Planting snapdragons in your home garden can attract Common Buckeye butterflies.

How To Identify Common Buckeye Butterflies

  • Wingspan: 2.0 – 2.5 inches (5.0 – 63.4 cm)
  • Males and females look similar.
    • Females tend to be slightly larger and have larger wing markings (Daniels 2003).
  • Above:
    • Both forewings and hindwings are brown overall.
    • Each forewing has two short, wide, orange wing bars and a single large, multi-colored eye spot.
    • Each hindwing has two large, multi-colored eye spots—one very large, one slightly smaller.
      • A series of concentric rings form patterns that look like large eyes.
      • The eye spots are multi-colored in rust, creamy white, lavender, and velvety black.
      • The eye spots include a spot of white that mimics the shine of light reflecting off a moist eyeball.
    • Hindwing margins are orange, with black and tan stripes along the edges.
  • Below:
    • Appearance varies by season.
    • The fore- and hindwings of spring adults are brown; the wings of fall adults are rust.
    • The upper wing surface is deep brown and orange while the under surface is more muted in shades of tan and rust.
    • On some individuals, wing spots show on both surfaces, with muted color on the under surface. On other individuals, the wing spots are small, dark, and subtle.

How to Find Common Buckeye Butterflies

  • Flight Season: Adults fly between April through November in North Carolina.
    • They can’t withstand freezing temperatures, so individuals in the northern part of their extensive range fly south in the fall.
    • Some may overwinter in North Carolina during exceptionally warm winters but most of the time, they spend the winter months in the Gulf Coast states, like Florida (Daniels 2003).
  • Look for Common Buckeye butterflies in open, disturbed areas, like along roadsides and in power line cuts, old fields, and gardens.
    • Common Buckeye butterflies seem to like the edges of pine woods as well.
  • Adult Common Buckeye butterflies feed on nectar from a variety of flowering plants. They especially like nectar from plants in the Aster family (Asteraceae), like Tickseed (Bidens aristosa) (Opler 1994) and Greater Tickseed (Coreopsis major).

How to Identify Common Buckeye Eggs, Caterpillars, And Chrysalises

Eggs

  • Female Common Buckeye butterflies lay dark green, ribbed, flat-topped eggs (Pyle 1981) one at a time on host plants.

Caterpillars

  • Common Buckeye caterpillars grow to 1.8 inches (4.5 cm).
  • Usually black; black, metallic, branched spines protrude from body segments.
    • Spines along the sides have orange, wart-like bases.
  • Single, thin, pale stripes run lengthwise down the caterpillars’ backs and along their sides.
  • Heads are orange, sprinkled with white dots (Wagner 2005).
  • Common Buckeye caterpillars feed on a wide variety of North Carolina host plants, especially those classified in the following families:
  • Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae):
    • Woolly Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
    • Beard Tongue (Penstemon canescens)
    • Toadflax (Linaria canadensis)
    • Speedwell (Veronica persica)
    • False Foxglove (Aureolaria pedicularia)
    • Downy Foxglove (Aureolaria virginiaca)
  • Stonecrop family (Crassulaceae):
    • Mossy Stonecrop (Sedum acre)
    • Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
    • Live Forever (Sedum telephioides)
  • Vervain or Verbena family (Verbenaceae):
    • Beauty Berry (Callicarpa americana)
    • Lopseed (Phryma leptostachya)
    • Rose Vervain (Verbena canadensis)
    • Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)
  • Look for Common Buckeye caterpillars wherever their food plants grow, such as:
    • Bogs, marshes, moist meadows, roadsides (Figwort family Scrophulariaceae)
    • Disturbed areas, roadsides, open, moist woods, rocky crevices (Stonecrop family Crassulaceae)
    • Moist woods, thickets, sandy areas, shorelines (Vervain or Verbena family Verbenaceae).

Chrysalises

  • Chrysalises are mottled, pale brown, approximately 1.0 inches (2.5 cm), and hang from host plant leaves by silken threads (Pyle 1981).