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Jul 7, 2021 · Types of Butterflies With Pictures and Names. Let’s look in more detail at some of the most common butterflies you are likely to see flying around your garden during warm sunny days. Monarch Butterfly
- The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) The magnificent monarch may be the most well-known and best-loved of all our insects. There is something truly regal about its size, bright colors, and powerful, soaring flight, but its kingly name supposedly comes from the spotted margins of its wings, which resemble the sable-edged robes worn by royalty at the time of its discovery.
- The Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) It's hard to believe that this insect is completely unrelated to the monarch. The Viceroy gets its name from its resemblance to the popular monarch butterfly (they're both royalty—get it?).
- Red-Spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) The red-spotted purple is closely related to—get this—the viceroy (the monarch-mimicking red-and-black butterfly pictured above).
- Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) This bright orange butterfly wings fast across fields and around forest edges in mid-to-late summer. Some researchers think its orange color is meant to mimic the poisonous monarch butterfly's colors; if so, that makes it yet another in the orange-butterfly mimic category that may also include over a dozen unrelated species.
- 0 Family Hedylidae: American Moth-Butterflies. Hedylidae moth-butterflies are an interesting grey area between butterflies and moths. They were viewed as an extant sister group to the superfamily of butterflies.
- 0 Family Hesperiidae: Skippers. Skippers are another genera in the order Lepidoptera that blur the line between moths and butterflies. Since they are diurnal, they are called butterflies.
- 0 Family Lycaenidae: Blues, Hairstreaks and Coppers. The Lycaenidae family is the second-largest family of the Lepidoptera butterflies. There are more than 6,000 species that fall under this family worldwide.
- 0 Family Nymphalidae: Brush-footed Butterflies. The Nymphalidae family is one of the largest families. They are also the kind of butterflies most people think of since they are often the biggest, brightest and most beautiful butterflies.
The butterfly identification guide provides pictures and descriptions of most types of butterflies from each family to help answer some basic butterfly identification questions. It might be helpful to use it in conjunction with the state butterfly guides.
Fewer than 800 of the known 12,000 lepidopterans found across the United States and Canada are actually Butterflies - the rest being recognized as moths. Butterflies differ from moths in several ways: their wings will typically rest horizontally (flat) and the forewings are not hooked.
Click on a photograph to view full size, or click on a scientific name to go to a species profile. Are you trying to identify a species? Visit our new Region Pages to get started with data-rich regional information, including the Top 20 commonly reported species!
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Find profiles for all butterfly families, genus, and species, including their unique physical and behavioral characteristics here at Butterfly Identification.
