Butterflies....!!

HESPERIIDAE (Skippers):

The skippers are commonly the small brownish butterflies that hop from flower to flower. They are characterized by relatively large eyes and closed wings at rest. Spreadwing skippers are the general exception to that rule.

Some of the common names for skippers are longtails, flashers, cloudywings, flats, sootywings, duskywings and skipperlings.

LYCAENIDAE (Gossamer-Wings):

The gossamer-wing butterflies are characteristically small butterflies. All the subfamilies have similar looking species making for difficult field identification. Except for their sharing a blue color, the blue butterflies are among the most difficult to identify. Other member of the Lycaenidae family are the coppers, hairstreaks and elfins.

NYMPHALIDAE (Brush-Footed Butterflies):

The brush-footed butterflies make up the largest family of butterflies, divided into a number of subfamilies, genera and species. Some of the common names for brush-footed butterfly species are: fritillaries, checkerspots, ladies, crescents, commas and tortoiseshells.

Many brush-footed butterfly species have wings with an orange color, making a close examination of their wing patterns necessary for proper identification.

PIERIDAE (Whites And Sulphurs):

The white and sulphur (yellow) butterflies are easy to see in the field and initially identified by color. One of the most common white butterflies you see in yards and gardens is the Cabbage White butterfly. The catepillar is fond of garden vegetables. Marbles, orangetips, yellows and dogfaces are also in the family.

RIODINIDAE (Metalmarks) :

They are typically small brown butterflies, found in the Southwest and Rio Grande valley.

The links in the box on the right point to further explanations of butterfly families, subfamilies, genera and species. The full list of butterflies covers approximately one hundred and fifty species divided into two pages, Butterfly Pictures I and Pictures of Butterflies II.