Butterflies and Moths
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Papilio polyxenes
Description
Most gardeners meet the black swallowtail sooner or later, because parsley, carrot, fennel, and dill are favorite food plants of the caterpillars.
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Scientific Name
Papilio glaucus
Description
The beautiful eastern tiger swallowtail ranges across Missouri and is equally at home in forests or in city landscapes.
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Scientific Name
Battus philenor
Description
The pipevine swallowtail is ignored by most predators because of its acrid body juices. Several other butterflies benefit by looking strikingly similar.
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Scientific Name
Pterourus troilus
Description
Spicebush swallowtails are beautiful large black butterflies with beautiful iridescent blue-green on the hindwings. The caterpillars eat the leaves of sassafras and spicebush.
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Scientific Name
Nathalis iole
Description
Each year, dainty sulphurs arrive in Missouri from regions to our south. They are small compared to other sulphur butterflies. The wingspan of the largest individuals reaches only about 1¼ inches.
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Scientific Name
Anthocharis midea
Description
Falcate orangetip males are unmistakable with their small size, white coloration, and orange wingtips. Look for them in open woodlands in April.
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Scientific Name
Colias eurytheme
Description
One of the most common butterflies in Missouri, the orange sulphur often gathers in numbers in moist places.
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Scientific Name
Calycopis cecrops
Description
The red-banded hairstreak has a unique pattern of white, black, and red-orange bands on the underside hindwing. It is most common in the Ozarks.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Callophrys gryneus gryneus (syn. Mitoura gryneus gryneus)
Description
The only green butterfly in Missouri, the olive (or juniper) hairstreak never strays far from eastern red cedar, its larval food plant. Adults fly between April and August.
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Scientific Name
Epargyreus clarus
Description
In a large, global family of several thousand species, the silver-spotted skipper is one of the easiest to identify in our state.
See Also
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Scientific Name
About 1,500 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
Adult caddisflies are mothlike. Their larvae are aquatic and build portable, protective cases out of local materials, including grains of sand, bits of leaves and twigs, and other debris.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Corydalus cornutus
Description
Adult eastern dobsonflies are huge and mothlike, with large wings and a weak, fluttery flight. The fiercely predaceous aquatic larvae, called hellgrammites, are well-known to anglers, who often use them as bait.
About Butterflies and Moths in Missouri
Butterflies, skippers, and moths belong to an insect order called the Lepidoptera — the "scale-winged" insects. These living jewels have tiny, overlapping scales that cover their wings like shingles. The scales, whether muted or colorful, seem dusty if they rub off on your fingers. Many butterflies and moths are associated with particular types of food plants, which their caterpillars must eat in order to survive.