The common wood-nymph (''Cercyonis pegala'') is a North American

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

in the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

. It is also known as the wood-nymph, grayling, blue-eyed grayling, and the goggle eye.

Description

The common wood-nymph can vary greatly. All individuals are brown with two eyespots on each forewing – the lower one often being larger than the upper one. Some may have many, few, or no eyespots on the ventral surface of the hindwing. In the southeastern part of its range, it has a large yellow patch on both surfaces of the forewing. In the western part of its range, it may have a pale yellow patch or may be lacking one. Individuals in the Northeast also lack the yellow patch, i.e., ''C. p. nephele''. In individuals with no yellow patch, there are two pale yellow eye rings that encircle both the forewing eyespots. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

measures 5.3 to 7.3 cm (2.1 to 2.9 in). These butterflies have ears on their forewings that are most sensitive to low frequency sounds (less than 5 kHz). A conspicuous swelling of their forewing vein are directly connected to the ears

Subspecies

The following subspecies are recognized: *''Cercyonis pegala abbotti'' (Brown, 1969) *''Cercyonis pegala alope'' (Fabricius, 1793) – Texas *''Cercyonis pegala ariane'' (Boisduval, 1852) – Oregon, Utah *''Cercyonis pegala blanca'' (Emmel & Mattoon, 1972) *''Cercyonis pegala boopis'' (Behr, 1864) – British Columbia *''Cercyonis pegala damei'' (Barnes & Benjamin, 1926) *''Cercyonis pegala ino'' (Hall, 1924) – prairies *''Cercyonis pegala nephele'' (Kirby, 1837) – northern Canada and US *''Cercyonis pegala olympus'' (Edwards, 1880) *''Cercyonis pegala pegala'' (Fabricius, 1775) - eastern US *''Cercyonis pegala stephensi'' (Wright, 1905) *''Cercyonis pegala texana'' (Edwards, 1880) – Texas *''Cercyonis pegala wheeleri'' (Edwards, 1873)

Similar species

In the western part of the common wood-nymph's range, there are a few similar species. The Great Basin wood-nymph ('' Cercyonis sthenele'') and the small wood-nymph (''

Cercyonis oetus ''Cercyonis oetus'', the small wood-nymph or dark wood-nymph, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in western North America.Cercyonis meadii ''Cercyonis meadii'', or Mead's wood nymph, is a species of brush-footed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It was first described by William Henry Edwards in 1872 and it is found in North America. The MONA or Hodges number for ''Cercyonis me ...

'') has a bright red-orange area on the ventral forewing.

Range and distribution

The common wood-nymph ranges from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

west to northern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

south to northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

southeast to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and east to northern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Habitat

The common wood-nymph is found in a variety of open habitats, such as open

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

s, woodland edges, fields,

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are saturated for part or all of the growing season. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of wetland. Wet prairies and wet savannas are hydrologically ...

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

es, and savannas.

Flight period

The common wood-nymph is found from mid-May to early October in the eastern part of its range. It is found from late June to early July in California and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. It has one brood per year throughout its entire range.

Adult food sources

The common wood-nymph feeds on

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

, tree sap, and decaying matters. Some of the plants it nectars on include: * ''

Asclepias tuberosa ''Asclepias tuberosa'', commonly known as butterfly weed, is a species of milkweed native to eastern and southwestern North America. It is commonly known as butterfly weed because of the butterflies that are attracted to the plant by its color ...

'' – butterfly weed * ''

Cirsium arvense ''Cirsium arvense'' is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native throughout Europe and western Asia, northern Africa and widely introduced elsewhere.Joint Nature Conservation Committee''Cirsium arvense'' The standa ...

'' – Canada thistle * ''

Cirsium vulgare ''Cirsium vulgare'', the spear thistle, bull thistle, or common thistle, is a species of the Asteraceae genus ''Cirsium'', native throughout most of Europe (north to 66°N, locally 68°N), Western Asia (east to the Yenisei Valley), and northwes ...

'' – bull thistle * ''

Daucus carota ''Daucus carota'', whose common names include wild carrot, European wild carrot, bird's nest, bishop's lace, and Queen Anne's lace (North America), is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae. It is native to temperate regions of the Old Wor ...

'' – wild carrot * ''

Dipsacus sylvestris ''Dipsacus fullonum'', syn. ''Dipsacus sylvestris'', is a species of flowering plant known by the common names wild teasel or fuller's teasel, although the latter name is usually applied to the cultivated variety ''D. fullonum'' var. ''sativus' ...

'' - teasel * ''

Monarda fistulosa ''Monarda fistulosa'', the wild bergamot or bee balm,Wild Bergamot
, Edmonton Naturalization Group< ...

'' – wild bergamot * ''

Pycnanthemum virginianum ''Pycnanthemum virginianum'', the Virginia or common mountain-mint, is a plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is a herbaceous plant with narrow, opposite, simple leaves, on wiry, green stems. The flowers are white with purplish spotting, borne ...

'' – Virginia mountain mint * ''

Rudbeckia hirta ''Rudbeckia hirta'', commonly called black-eyed Susan, is a North American flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Eastern and Central North America and naturalized in the Western part of the continent as well as in China. It has now b ...

'' – black-eyed susan * ''

Trifolium pratense ''Trifolium pratense'', the red clover, is a herbaceous species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae, native to Europe, Western Asia, and northwest Africa, but planted and naturalized in many other regions. Description Red clove ...

'' – red clover * ''

Vernonia gigantea ''Vernonia gigantea'' (also known as giant ironweed, tall ironweed or ironweed) is a species of perennial plant from family Asteraceae found in United States and Canada. The plant is native to the eastern United States, north to New York state an ...

'' – tall ironweed

Life cycle

The female common wood-nymph is the active flight partner. The female lays her eggs on or near the host plant. The egg is pale yellow, later turning to a tan color with orange or pink blotches. The caterpillar makes no shelters or nests. It is green or yellowish green with darker green stripes that run the length of the body. It has two short pinkish projections on the end of the abdomen. It has yellow spiracles and is covered in thin, white hairs. The caterpillar will reach a length of 5 cm (2 in). The common wood-nymph caterpillar is very similar to satyr caterpillars in the genera '' Hermeuptychia'', '' Cyllopsis'', and ''

Neonympha ''Neonympha'' is a Nearctic and Neotropical genus of satyrid butterflies. Species Listed alphabetically: *''Neonympha areolatus'' (Smith, 1797) *''Neonympha helicta'' (Hübner, 808 *''Neonympha mitchellii'' French, 1889 *'' "Neonympha" lupita' ...

''. It can be separated by its larger size and habitat. The pale green

chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

is striped in white or pale yellow. The first

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...

caterpillar hibernates.

Host plants

Here is a list of host plants used by the common wood-nymph: * ''

Andropogon ''Andropogon'' ( common names: beard grass, bluestem grass, broomsedge) is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to much of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as southern Europe and various oceanic islands. Over 100 spec ...

'' sp. – beard grasses * ''

Danthonia spicata ''Danthonia spicata'' is a species of grass known by the common name poverty oatgrass, or simply poverty grass. It is native to North America, where it is widespread and common in many areas.Poa pratensis ''Poa pratensis'', commonly known as Kentucky bluegrass (or blue grass), smooth meadow-grass, or common meadow-grass, is a perennial species of grass native to practically all of Europe, North Asia and the mountains of Algeria and Morocco. Altho ...

'' – Kentucky bluegrass * ''

Schizachyrium ''Schizachyrium'' is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words (), meaning "to split," and (), meaning "chaff." It refers to either the glume or the toothed lemmas. In the United States ...

'' sp. – bluestems * ''

Tridens flavus ''Tridens flavus'', the purpletop tridens, red top, or greasegrass, is a large, robust perennial bunchgrass native to eastern North America. It widespread throughout its range and is most often found in man-made habitats, such as hay meadows an ...

'' – purple top

Image gallery

File:Common Wood-Nymph Megan McCarty02.jpg, Dorsal File:Common Wood-Nymph Megan McCarty03.jpg, Ventral File:Cercyonis_pegala.jpg File:Common_Wood_Nymph_(Cercyonis_pegala).jpg

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2674031 Cercyonis Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1775