Border Patrol for Silver-bordered Frits

What could be more exciting than a "life" butterfly for a little girl who followed around the boys in the neighborhood chasing after insects? Check this one out guys: it is pretty much an Ohio rarity!


...................................... Click on photo to enlarge

The Silver-bordered Fritillary is the smallest of the fritillaries with silver spots on the underwings. They are members of the brush-foot family of butterflies, which means they have shortened front legs like a preying mantis, or T-Rex, if you will. But fritillaries restrict their diet to nectar as adults and strictly violets as caterpillars.

In fact, it is the rarity of the host plant that accounts for the rarity of this species. You see, Silver-border Frits only like Northern Bog Violets, Viola nephrophylla, which in turn only like wet places. And since we have been terribly fond of draining our wet places, we have a real shortage of bog violets - and Silver-bordered butterflies.

Spreading its wings to a maximum of two inches, Silver-border Frits have a distinctive white edging. Size wise, and color wise, it would be easy to mistake this rarity for a common Meadow Fritillary- but a thorough scan of the border tells the whole story.

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We are looking at winged gold!

......................... Photo by Su Snyder

Silvery Crescentspot and Pearl Crescent

There are several other confusing species among these golden wings of summer. Also in the two-inch-and-under category is the deeper shaded Silvery Crescentspot (left). They are members of the brush-foots too, and are in the same genus as the Checkerspots. For quick identification, I look for several round open cells in the spots on the hind wing. This is when a careful study of the dorsal edge makes all the difference!

The smaller butterfly to the right is our gold standard of measurement, the Pearl Crescent. Stretching out at 1-1.5 inches, Ohio's most common butterfly feeds on asters as a larva, and nectars at flowers as an adult.

Get to know your Pearl Crescent well, and if something looks a little too big, or a bit too bright- you'll know it is time to call out the Border Patrol!

Fall Colors

Be sure to schedule a long walk this weekend and enjoy the cooler weather and the fall colors just beginning to show. Look for the Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquafolia leaves spiraling up tree trunks, forming columns of red as if to predict of what is yet to come.

This Eastern Comma butterfly already has "Autumn" written all over it.

Late season or "winter form" Commas will spend the Ohio winter in hibernation and will be one of the earliest butterflies seen in 2011. The fall brood of Commas are lighter in coloration on the hind wing, and the spots look nearly golden. Edges often appear to be trimmed in lavender on the fall form. Size is a good key to this species. Remember, Commas are smaller than the similar Question Marks, if the diagnostic comma shaped mark on the under wing cannot be seen.



A ditch full of Meadow Fritillaries hides an impostor amongst them. The Meadow Frits are evenly golden around the edges, while the Pearl Crescent (centered top of the photo) is slightly smaller and edged in black. Pearl Crescents are one of Ohio's most common butterfly- essentially the gold standard- or "Killdeer" of shorebirds. Get this species down and it is useful for comparing size and color with several other similar species.

New England Aster, one of the showiest of our fall blooming asters.

Fall is also a time for asters, the host plant for the Pearl Crescent. Woodlands and fields are starting boast of the many species of Asters: white, lavender, blues and the stunning purple flowers of the New England Aster, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae. Look closely at its leaves which wrap around, or clasp the stem of this wetland loving plant.

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These beautiful fall days won't last for long, so breath deeply the cool night air and savor every color nature has to offer. It can't get much better than this.