Butterflies and Moths
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Speyeria cybele
Description
The great spangled fritillary is common and easily recognized. This glorious butterfly is often seen in city yards and gardens as it seeks flowers.
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Scientific Name
Chlosyne nycteis
Description
Black and orange above, paler below, the silvery checkerspot has a telltale wide white crescent in a brownish patch along the edge of the hindwing underside.
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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
Papilio cresphontes
Description
The giant swallowtail is the largest butterfly in our state. In Florida, the caterpillars are a pest in citrus orchards, but here in Missouri, they feed primarily on prickly ash and hop tree, plants provided by nature.
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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
Pieris rapae
Description
A common butterfly in Missouri, the cabbage white was introduced in the 1800s from Europe and became a crop pest.
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Scientific Name
Colias philodice
Description
The clouded sulphur is one of our most common butterflies, flying low over fields and lawns, from late March into December.
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Scientific Name
Phoebis sennae
Description
The cloudless sulphur is the large, clear-yellow butterfly you see flying rapidly to the southward in late summer and fall: They’re migrating!
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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.
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.