American snout

LC - Least Concern

N5 - Secure

SNRB - Unranked Breeding

not listed

American snout is a small brush-footed butterfly. It occurs in North, Central, and South America. In the United States it occurs from Maine to Florida, west to South Dakota, Colorado, and southern California. Its range extends wherever its hosts, several species of hackberry trees, are found. This includes the southern two-thirds of Minnesota. It is a migratory species. It is a permanent resident in the south and in Mexico. It migrates north every year, sometimes in numbers large enough to darken the midday sky. It appears in Minnesota in May or June, but not in large numbers. It is found in thickets, open deciduous and mixed woodlands, and wooded suburban areas, wherever there are hackberry trees nearby.

Adults have a wingspan of 1⅜″ to 2″ (35 to 50 mm). The tip of the forewing is distinctly extended and squared off. The upper side is orange at the base, dark brown near the outer margin, orange near the inner margin, and brown at the tip. There is a row of five squarish spots in the median area near the costal margin, and two widely separated, rectangular, white spots in the postmedial area. The underside is violet-gray at the tip but otherwise reflects the color and marking of the upper side.

The upper side of the hindwing is mostly brown above, with a dark brown patch along the outer margin, and a large, orange, post-median spot. The underside is mottled brown and violet gray.

The most distinctive feature of this butterfly is the long palps held straight forward appearing snout-like. This is the feature that gives the genus its common name. The snout is thought to have evolved as camouflage. When the butterfly is at rest with wings closed and snout held downward, the wings look like a dead leaf and the snout like the leaf stalk (petiole).

Wingspan: 1⅜″ to 2″ (35 to 50 mm)

Deciduous and mixed forests and woodlands, wooded suburban areas

Two generations per year: mid-June to early October (Ontario)

Young leaves of hackberry trees

Flower nectar from a variety of species, including aster, dogbane, goldenrod, and milkweed.

Sources

21, 24, 29, 30, 75, 82, 83.

Uncommon migratory visitor

Until recently, this butterfly was known as Libytheana bachmanii. In 1992 it was determined that this is the same butterfly that occurs in South America.

Location: Houston, MN