GARDEN BUTTERFLIES

Sooner or latter, it had to happen---I would get around to observing and photographing butterflies (Class Insecta, Order Lepidoptera, various families) that visit the garden in our front yard. 

They can be almost as difficult to photograph as hummingbirds. This is because butterflies are almost always in motion and constantly on the move; with very brief stops. Nevertheless, eventually I was able to “capture” photographically, four species. They are illustrated and discussed below. I relied on Wikipedia for the "Distribution" information presented below.

 

MONARCH BUTTERFLY

 

Family Nymphalidae

Genus Danaus

Type Species D. plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758)

 

Distribution: USA, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Some populations have been found on the western Pacific islands, as well as in parts of Europe and southeast Asia. Some populations, however, do not migrate.

 

GULF FRITILLARY

Family Nymphalidae

Genus Agrulis

Type Species A. vanillae

 

Distribution: Common in southern USA (especially Florida and Texas). Also found from Baja California to Florida, West Indies, Mexico, and South America.

 

This vibrant orange butterfly has black markings and distinctive silver spots on the underside of its wings,

 

This butterfly has a chemical defense to avoid being eaten.

 

 

FIERY SKIPPER

Family Hesperiidae

Genus Hylephia

Type Species. H. phyleus

 

This fuzzy-headed-looking butterfly is brown with light yellow longitudinal streaks. The females can be have checkered markings on their hinge wings.

 

Distribution: Canada to Argentina. This small-sized (about 1 inch in length) species migrates north in the summer to northern USA and southern Ontario, Canada.

WHITE [= CABBAGE BUTTERFLY]

Family Pieridae

Genus Pieris

Species observed: P. rapae

These light-yellow to white, small butterflies characteristically have several black spots and/or streaks on the inner sides of their wings, but I was never able to see any unfolded wings. I could see, however, through their somewhat transparent wings, a few black spots on what would the tops of their wings (see the arrow). 

This butterfly is a common agricultural pest, because their larvae (caterpillars) eat cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Distribution: This species of butterfly is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It was introduced into North America in the 1860’s.

FOSSIL RECORD OF BUTTERFLIES

The oldest record of butterflies correlates with beginning of the early Jurassic age (about 200 million years ago), which was long before flowering plants evolved) in Cretaceous time (Sohn et al., 2015). These early butterflies therefore had to survive by eating sugary secretions of gymnosperms (Wikipedia, 2025).

References:

Sohn, J-C., C. C. Labandeira, and D. R. Davis. 2025. The fossil record and taphonomy of butterflies and moths (Insecta, Lepidoptera): implications for evolutionary diversity and divergence-time estimates. BMC Evolutionary Biology 15:12, 15 pages.

Wikipedia. 2015.