Minnesota Insects

Many butterfly species scatter in a random direction soon after emerging as an adult. This is dispersion. Some butterfly species move permanently in one direction following a food source. This is emigration. Most butterfly species do not undertake a seasonal, long-distance (more than 125 miles), north-south journey. This is migration.

Some adult anglewings (Polygonia spp.) and tortoiseshells (Nymphalis spp.) spend the winter in Minnesota as adults. They wedge themselves into small crevices in trees or human buildings. They sometimes fly about on warm sunny days in the dead of winter. They mate in early spring. Most other butterflies overwinter within their chrysalis.

There are at least twelve butterfly species that cannot survive the harsh winter and migrate south each fall:

American lady (Vanessa virginiensis)
common buckeye (Junonia coenia)
dainty sulphur (Nathalis iole)
fiery skipper (Hylephila phyleus)
little yellow (Pyrisitia lisa lisa)
monarch (Danaus plexippus)
mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)
painted lady (Vanessa cardui)
queen (Danaus glippus)
question mark (Polygonia interrogationis)
red admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
sachem (Atalopedes campestris)

Occasionally, a migratory butterfly whose usual summer range does not extend this far north will stray into Minnesota. All of the following butterflies are migratory and have been reported at least once in Minnesota:

cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae)
Gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae)
Mexican yellow (Eurema mexicana)
pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor)
sleepy orange (Abaeis nicippe)

Hackberry emperor (Asterocampa celtis) is a medium-sized brushfooted butterfly, with a wingspan of 2″ to 2⅞″. It is common in the southern half of Minnesota where it’s host species, northern hackberry, is also found. Though common it is sometimes overlooked due to its tendency to fly around the tops of trees. Adults can sometimes be found perched head down a tree trunk or the side of a building. Males are attracted to bright colors and can be lured with red and white paper.

Hackberry emperor is similar in appearance to its close relative, tawny emperor (Asterocampa clyton), also found in Minnesota. Hackberry emperor can be distinguished by its darker coloration, white spots near the tip of the forewing, a single black eyespot on the forewing, and single black bar and two separated black spots in the large central area of the forewing.

This common and widespread, colorful, medium-sized moth is the largest wasp moth in North America. It is found from mid-June to late July in moist, open, grassy fields and meadows. Although it is a day-flying moth it is also attracted to lights at night.

This and other Ctenuchid moths have three adaptations that help to protect them from predators: the metallic blue color of the body mimics wasps which may be noxious to predators; caterpillars retain toxic chemicals from the plants they eat; and a specialized region on the thorax produces ultrasonic sounds which jam the sonar of moth-eating bats.

This species is identified by the incomplete yellowish-orange collar and the broad wings with no markings.

In its larval (caterpillar) stage, this tiger moth may be the most widely recognized moth in North America. Most of us have seen a woolly bear crossing a sidewalk, driveway, road, or parking lot. It has a densely bristly body that is black on both ends and orange in the middle. The adult is less conspicuous but equally distinctive. They are nocturnal and therefore rarely seen.

Folklore says that the size of the orange band predicts the severity of the coming winter, with wider bands forecasting a milder winter. This means of forecasting is probably as accurate as the Farmer’s Almanac, though not as accurate as the National Weather Service.

This is a common, large, brush-footed butterfly. In is found in forest edges and openings, on trails, and on roadsides. It is often seen sunning itself on gravel roads. Caterpillars are found mostly on birch, willow, quaking aspen, and chokecherry but sometimes also on other trees. Adults feed mostly on sap flows, rotting fruit, aphid honeydew, carrion, and dung, rarely on flower nectar. The appearance of this butterfly is distinctive and there are no similar butterflies in Minnesota. However, the range overlaps that of the red-spotted purple in the lower third of the state. Where the ranges overlap the subspecies interbreed and produce offspring with intergrading characteristics.

This is a fairly common, medium-sized, brushfooted butterfly. It is found in woodland openings, open areas near woodlands streamsides, trails, and roadside ditches. In Minnesota, stinging nettle is the only host plant for the caterpillars. There are two broods each year. Adults of the second brood hibernate, sometimes in groups, in bark crevices or on human structures. When they emerge from hibernation in the spring they are pale and appear tattered.

polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus)

cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia)

painted lady (Vanessa cardui)

snowberry clearwing (Hemaris diffinis)

one-eyed sphinx (Smerinthus cerisyi)