Butterflies of Pennsylvania: A Field Guide

by James L. Monroe, David M. Wright

Overview

Winner of the 2017 National Outdoor Book Award, Nature Guidebook category.

How do you tell a Striped Hairstreak butterfly from a Regal Fritillary butterfly? By using Butterflies of Pennsylvania, the most comprehensive, user-friendly field guide to date of all of the species ever recorded within Pennsylvania’s 46,056 square miles.
            Over 900 brilliant color photographs illustrate both the upper and under side of male and female specimens of each species, including skippers. Information on distinguishing marks, traits, wingspan, habitat, larval host plants, and handy facts offer assistance for field identification. The images depict the species in their native environments, as well as finely detailed museum-quality mounted specimens. County-by-county maps show where each species has been recorded within the state, and graphs detail when they are present and most likely to be seen.
            Butterflies are arguably the most recognized, studied, and beloved of all insects. They are essential to healthy ecosystems, agricultural viability, and ultimately human and animal survival. Butterflies of Pennsylvania will serve as a handy reference for a broad readership including students and educators, backyard butterfly enthusiasts and gardeners, conservationists and naturalists, public and school libraries, entomologists, lepidopterists, and butterfly watchers in general.

View a sample galley version of this book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822964551
Publisher:	University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication date:	05/25/2017
Edition description:	1
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	626,947
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 5.70(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

James L. Monroe is a research associate at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity in Gainesville, Florida and is professor emeritus of physics at Pennsylvania State University, Beaver. His butterfly photographs have appeared in Nature’s Best Photography, American Butterflies, Butterfly Gardener, and numerous other journals.
 
David M. Wright is chairman of patient safety and quality council at Abington Health-Lansdale Hospital in Pennsylvania. He is an anatomical and clinical pathologist who has published extensively on the butterflies of Pennsylvania and neighboring states. His papers have appeared in American Butterflies, Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, The Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera, and numerous other journals.
 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Preface xiii

Introduction 3

Evolutionary Origins of Butterflies 3

Butterfly Anatomy 4

Butterflies, Skippers, and Moths 7

Scientific Names and Butterfly Classification 7

Butterfly Life Cycle 9

Butterfly Seasons 10

Migration 11

Overwintering 11

Mating 12

Egg Laying and Hostplants 13

Feeding 14

Predators 14

Protective Coloration 15

Polymorphism 16

Butterfly Diversity and Habitat 16

Physiographic Provinces of Pennsylvania 17

Collecting 18

Butterfly Watching 19

Butterfly Gardening 20

Changing Butterfly Distribution and Conservation 20

Layout and Use of Species Pages 22

Species Accounts

Swallowtails 28

Special Topic: Tiger Swallowtails 44

Whites and Sulphurs 50

Special Topic: Discal Cell 55

Special Topic: "Alba" Form of Female Clouded and Orange Sulphurs 60

Gossamer Wings 68

Special Topic: Azure Complex (Celastrina ladon complex) 100

Metalmarks 104

Special Topic: Metalmarks 105

Brushfoots 108

Special Topic: Antennal Clubs 135

Special Topic: Brushfoots 139

Special Topic: Punctuation Marks 143

Special Topic: Checkerspots, Crescents, and Anglewings 146

Special Topic: Vanessa 155

Special Topic: Hybrid or Blend Zones 158

Special Topic: Irruptions 162

Skippers 170

Special Topic: Cloudywings 180

Special Topic: Costal Fold 181

Special Topic: Duskywing Identification 192

Special Topic: "Jet Fighter" Wing Orientation 199

Special Topic: Fall Migrant Skippers 211

Special Topic: Tawny-edged and Crossline Skippers 218

Special Topic: Stigmata of Skippers 226

Special Topic: Apiculus 231

Special Topic: Euphyes 238

Special Topic: Three Witches 239

Species of Possible Occurrence in Pennsylvania 247

Checklist of Pennsylvania Species 253

History of Butterfly Study in Pennsylvania 263

Glossary 269

Locations of Photographed Museum Specimens 275

Bibliography and Resources 291

Index to Butterflies and Skippers 297

Index to Larval Hostplants 301

Editorial Reviews

This work has all of the features that make field guides to a region's butterfly fauna useful to anyone with a serious interest in that fauna. . . . the book is a bargain and a must for anyone with an interest not just in Pennsylvania's fauna, but the northeast fauna as a whole.”—News of the Lepidopterists’ Society


This guide is tailor-made to suss out vagaries of cloudywings or little brown job skippers from photos, notes or sketches made in the field. That’s where its 900+ color photographs of pinned (not field) specimens outshines every other guide available for the mid-Atlantic, and where subtle differences in eye color or wing pattern or flight time can be studied and weighed in comparison.  I can’t think of a better resource for the photographer-naturalist with an interest in butterflies. It fully deserves its recognition as a winner in the 2017 National Outdoor Book Awards in the field book category.” 

From the Publisher