Common Buckeye butterfly Junonia coenia. Brown butterfly. Insect. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright © 2025 Now I Wonder. All rights reserved.

Complete Guide To The Common Buckeye Butterfly

ByChristine Species Guides

Common Buckeye Butterfly

Common Buckeye Butterfly Images

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 hind wings are brown overall.
    • Each forewing has two short, wide, orange wing bars and a single large, multi-colored eye spot.
    • Each hind wing 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.
    • Hind wing margins are orange, with black and tan stripes along the edges.
  • Below:
    • The appearance of these brown butterflies varies varies by season.
    • The forewing and hind wings 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.
    • Common Buckeye butterflies can’t withstand freezing temperatures, so northern individuals fly south in the fall.
    • Some may overwinter in North Carolina during exceptionally warm winters but most of the time, these brown butterflies 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.
    • These brown 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).
  • 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 brown butterflies easy to observe from a distance. However, they are wary and likely to fly off when approached.

Common Buckeye Butterfly Classification

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)

Genus

Junonia

Species

J. coenia

Binomial Name

Junonia coenia

author avatar
Christine
Christine is the creator and author of NowIWonder.com, a website dedicated to the animals and plants that share our world, and the science that helps us understand them. Inspired by lifelong exploration and learning, Christine loves to share her knowledge with others who want to connect with wild faces and wild spaces.
See Full Bio

Similar Posts