Wild Facts About The Pearl Crescent Butterfly

How To Find Pearl Crescent Butterflies

• Pearl Crescent Butterflies are the most widely distributed and abundant butterfly in its genus Phyciodes in the eastern United States.
• This species lives from Florida, north to Vermont and New Hampshire and throughout the plains.
  • Its northern range falls short in Maine, where the Northern Crescent Butterfly (P. cocyta) takes over.
  • In the southern-most part of its range, Pearl Crescents overlap with its cousin species the Phaon Crescent (P. phaon).

Adult Butterflies

• Look for Pearl Crescent Butterflies in:
  • Open, sunny areas with greater than 75% grassland, open or no tree canopy cover, and few trees greater than or equal to 7.5 cm at breast height (Keller and Yahner 2002, https://doi.org/10.1656/1092-6194(2002)009[0235:BCITPN]2.0.CO;2) like:
    • Along roadsides,
    • Utility easements,
    • In old fields,
    • In home gardens.
• Pearl Crescent Butterflies eat flower nectar from a wide variety of sources. Some favorite plants include:
  • Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum),
  • Hairy Woodmint (Blephilia hirsuta),
  • Crown Vetch (Securigera varia),
  • Heal-All (Prunella vulgaris) (Keller and Yahner 2002, https://doi.org/10.1656/1092-6194(2002)009[0235:BCITPN]2.0.CO;2),
  • White Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias perennis),
  • Small Beggarticks (Bidens discoidea),
  • Philadephia Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus),
  • Camphorweed (Pluchea camphorata),
  • Giant Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea),
  • White Clover (Trifolium repens),
  • Swamp Smartweed (Polygonum hydropiperoides),
  • Frogfruit (Phyla lanceolata) (Fothergill and Vaughn 2010, https://midsouthentomologist.org.msstate.edu/pdfs/Vol3_1/vol3_1_005.pdf)

Caterpillars

• Pearl Crescent caterpillars feed on the leaves of plants in the Aster family Asteraceae (Wagner 2005).
• Look for them on plants such as:
  • Yarrow (Achillea millefolium),
  • Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia),
  • Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea),
  • Plantainleaf Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia)