American Butterflies Checklist

Monarch

• The monarch butterfly has an extensive home range. It depends on plants in the milkweed family, of which there are about 2,400 species. The density of the plant determines the density of the monarch, therefore in some areas the monarch is populous. Because of its distribution, it is one of the most recognized butterflies in the world, along with the swallowtail. The monarch's average wingspan is 3 inches, and its body is 1 inch long. Its base color is yellow, orange or gold but it has black veins that run through the wings, creating a striking contrast. Its wings also have a thicker band of black toward the front of the wings that is speckled with white.

Skipper

• Skippers, or Hesperiidae, hop from flower to flower, thus their name. Skippers are recognizable by their larger eyes. They are brownish and close their forewings when they are at rest while their hindwings lay flat. One type, the spreadwing skipper, does not close its forewings when it is at rest. Other types of skippers include longtails, flashers, cloudywings, flats, sootywings, duskywings and skipperlings. Skippers are not considered "true butterflies," according to a University of California, Davis, description of Hesperiidae. One characteristic of the skipper, which includes about 3,500 species worldwide, is the hook shape on the tip of its antennae.

Tiger Swallowtail

• The tiger swallowtail is very recognizable by its large yellow wings with black tiger stripes. The male has orange and blue spots near its tail and females have both a light and dark form; they still have blue spots, but no yellow. Large spots on each wing of the swallowtail are thought to cause the butterflies' predators to be reluctant to attack it, or to attack the wrong part of it. Types of swallowtail include yellow poplar, black willow, black cherry, American hornbeam, red maple and sassafras.

Cabbage White Butterfly

• The cabbage white butterfly appears every day almost everywhere in Orange County, California. The adult males have one black spot on the dorsal forewing nearest the body while the female has two. Though it could have been in America for longer, the cabbage white butterfly is known to have been in America and Canada since 1860; it is native to Europe.