Monday, August 27, 2012

Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)

August 11th, 2012. There are a couple of swamps on Enoch John Road in  Wilkes County, Georgia. We make sure that we go by them each time we go to Wilkes County. There’s always something to see. It’s worth noting, however, that the road approaching the Anderson Mill Creek swamp from the west has a couple of deep potholes that are filled with water just before the bridge over the swamp. On the 11th, we were treated to a Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) butterfly. I’ve only seen this butterfly once previously.

It was skittish. It had landed on the gravel roadway to sun itself but took off when I approached it. After a while it settled on the tip of a Common Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) leaf over the water.

*****
*****

It opened and closed its wings repeatedly before it finally settled with…


wings opened to soak up the heat of the afternoon sun.

Viceroys are resident in Georgia and may be seen between early March to early November.
Click on an image to view a closer image

Identification resources:
- Butterflies and Moths of North America: Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)
- Michael Beohm, West Central Georgia Butterflies: Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)
- BugGuide: Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) [Top]  [Side

Related post:

2 comments:

Kay G. said...

What a beauty. These are great photos of it too. It is so hard to take shots of a butterfly. They move so darn fast!

JSK said...

This one definitely was a challenge but it was too good to pass up