SallyG commented recently on the large number of orange & black spotted butterflies. I'd like to learn how to identify them, and I thought a thread with photos (dorsal and ventral shots if possible) might be the way to do it.

I didn't realize just how many there were until I started looking! So with apologies to our international members, I'll focus on North American butterflies.

Baltimore Checkerspot (ventral), Wikimedia photo by Judy Gallagher 2016, Creative Commons License (CCL)


Baltimore Checkerspot (dorsal), Wikimedia photo by D. George E. Robertson 2014, CCL


American Lady
dorsal photo by crawgarden

ventral photo by joannakat


Painted Lady, dorsal & ventral photos by NMoasis



Mourning Cloak (dorsal), Wikimedia photo Alan Schmierer 2011, CCL
(A lot of photos show the wings as being nearly black. ?)


Pearl Crescent, some photos look black and other photos more brown -- is that a regional difference or a sexual dimorphism? (These are tiny butterflies!)
photos from Wikimedia, all 3 by Judy Gallagher 2017, CCL




Monarch
dorssal photo from Critterologist. This is a male, thinner black lines on the wings and a black spot on the dorsal side of the hindwing.

ventral photo from NMoasis

Ventral photo from Critterologist


Viceroy (Monarch mimic, note wide horizontal black stripe across lower wings, visible both front and back)

Monarch (L) and Viceroy (R), wikimedia commons, GNU free license


Viceroy dorsal, Wikimedia photo by Benny Mazur 2009, CC attribution 2.0


American Snout
(ventral) photo by NMoasis


Variegated Fritillary
dorsal & ventral photos by NMoasis


photo by Web Tucker


Bordered Patch dorsal & ventral photos by NMoasis




Here's the list for this thread! Names in italics are those added to this post with photos. I left off skipper on purpose, because that's another ID lesson altogether IMO. I also separated species found only west of the mississippi from those found in the Eastern US or all over North America.

Eastern North America:
Monarch (male, female)
Viceroy
Queen
Baltimore Checkerspot
Silvery Checkerspot
Gorgone Checkerspot
Red Admiral
Painted Lady
American Lady
Mourning Cloak
American Snout
Variegated Fritillary
Gulf Fritillary
Great Spangled Fritillary
Meadow Fritillary
Atlantis Fritillary
Aphrodite Fritillary
Silver-bordered Fritillary
Eastern Comma
Green Comma
Tawny Emperor
Pearl Crescent
Mylitta Crescent
Northern Crescent
Small Copper
Bronze Copper
Milbert's Tortoiseshell
Julia Heliconium



Western North America only:
Bordered Patch
Western Great Swallowtail
California Sister
California Tortoiseshell
West Coast Lady
Field Crescent
Behr's Metalmark
Northern Checkerspot
Edith's Checkerspot
Satyr Comma
Vesta Crescent
Mormon Fritillary
Callippe Fritillary

Beautiful! What's missing though is something that indicates size. The pearl crescent, for example, I think, is rather small!

You're right, that would be good information to add. I'll be way ahead if I can just memorize which pattern goes with which name.

Web, can I snag your American Lady photo for this thread?

If you have any photos of orange & black butterflies, please add them! I'll copy them to the first post in the thread (with attribution) so it's a continuous list

critterologist said: You're right, that would be good information to add. I'll be way ahead if I can just memorize which pattern goes with which name.

Web, can I snag your American Lady photo for this thread?

If you have any photos of orange & black butterflies, please add them! I'll copy them to the first post in the thread (with attribution) so it's a continuous list

Is this one helpful? Sorry I couldn't get the dorsal view.

Beautiful pic Joanna!

Jill, believe this is an American Lady

Yes! beautiful photos, both of them.

Adding photos from folks on this forum will make for a much more interesting thread than my pulling images from Wikimedia. In order to add them to the first post, I'll need to download the images, but I'll put them in a temporary file and delete them from my computer later.

Please let me know if it's NOT ok to edit the image (the way I did with crawgarden's pic so the butterfly was easier to see).

K with me Jill!

K with me too, Jill!

hoo boy! Trying to think of additional orange and black butterflies, I came up with "Fritillary" -- looked it up, and there are quite a few different ones!

I think this forum mostly has folks in the US, so with apologies I'm not going to look for images for Euorpean or Asian butterflies...

The only one I think I've seen is the Gulf Fritillary. Am I missing one that should be included here?

I found a list! !https://thepetenthusiast.com/black-and-orange-butterflies/#:~:text=43%20Black%20And%20Orange%20Butterflies%20%28Pictures%20And%20Identification%29,...%208%208.%20Queen%20Queen%20...%20More%20items

I'll add these to the top post, too, so we can keep track of which ones we have images for or still need to add.

Just for my own purposes, I'm going to put species that occur only west of the mississippi in their own section.

I'm also thinking we should skip the skippers... learning them seems like another ID lesson altogether!

I was wrong about Fritillaries! 5 different ones in the Eastern US and 2 more west of the Mississippi. No wonder I've shrugged in the past and said, "I think it's some kind of fritillary."

Please check the list at the top of the thread to see what photos you might have and to let me know which ones I've missed!

I'm having fun with this. Hope others will join the... party? lesson?

Variegated fritillary, New Mexico



Painted Lady



American snout — maybe more brown than black, but such a weird one!


A battered Bordered Patch



Monarch. A rare sighting in my garden. This from June 2017

Such wonderful photos!! Thank you!

And yes, American Snout should be on the list. Nice to have something easily ID'd, like the Comma butterflies with their scalloped wings or the Gulf Fritillary with that wide curve to its upper wing

https://www.jeffpippen.com/

Jeff Pippen is an excellent source person - taught at Duke University in NC. Just reading his website is fascinating.

Re_ the orange/black butterflies --- don't forget the Viceroy ... almost a copycat of the Monarch.

Thanks for that link! I need to figure out how to tell Viceroy and Monarch butterflies apart. Do you know a good field mark?

I just looked that up -- Viceroys have a thick black horizontal stripe across their hindwings that monarchs lack!

I got distracted by other things but will get back to finding images ASAP

Wikimedia image Monarch (L) & Viceroy (R), available under GNU free license

I also had to look up how to tell a female from a male Monarch, because I always mix them up. Female has heavier black lines, male has a small black dot on the hindwing, dorsal side only.

Queen butterflies are another Monarch mimic.

critterologist said: I also had to look up how to tell a female from a male Monarch, because I always mix them up. Female has heavier black lines, male has a small black dot on the hindwing, dorsal side only.

Queen butterflies are another Monarch mimic.

to you for all you're learning and doing! I love those black dota. They're functional too! They're scent glands!

I remembered reading that they release pheromones... but I can never remember who is the smeller and who is the smellee!

critterologist said: I remembered reading that they release pheromones... but I can never remember who is the smeller and who is the smellee!

Well, the pheromones or scents attract females.

Maybe now I'll remember that and remember that the ones with the extra spots are the males.

critterologist said: Maybe now I'll remember that and remember that the ones with the extra spots are the males.

If you're anything like me, you'll keep looking it up.