''Polygonia faunus'', the green comma, Faunus comma, or

Faunus In ancient Roman religion and myth, Faunus was the rustic god of the forest, plains and fields; when he made cattle fertile he was called Inuus. He came to be equated in literature with the Greek god Pan, after which Romans depicted him as a ...

anglewing is a

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 ...

of 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 ...

Subspecies

Subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

include: *''Polygonia faunus smythi'' *''Polygonia faunus faunus'' *''Polygonia faunus articus'' *''Polygonia faunus rusticus'' (brown - west), *''Polygonia faunus hylas'' (gray - Rockies) Some authors split ''Polygonia faunus'' into the above-mentioned subspecies, on the basis of differences in the color of the underside and their distribution. However most authors consider them as regional variants.

Distribution and habitat

This species can be found in the boreal North America, from central Alaska south to central California and northern New Mexico. It is also present across the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

area to New England, the

Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

and in the southern

Appalachians The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. The ''green comma'' mainly occurs in forests, mountain woodlands, near streams and in canyons.

Description

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 ...

of ''Polygonia faunus'' can reach about 45–64 mm. These usually uncommon butterflies show extremely ragged wing edges. They are geographically rather variable. The upperside of their wings is reddish brown with wide dark borders. The hindwing border contains a row of yellow spots. The underside of the wings is grey-brown, but the outer half is lighter, with greenish lichen-simulating submarginal spots in the males. Moreover, the hindwings have a L or a C-shaped silver spot in middle.Butterflies and Moths of North America
/ref> In the females the wings are more uniform, dull gray below.

Similar species

This species is most similar to the

eastern comma ''Polygonia comma'', the eastern comma, is a North American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae, subfamily Nymphalinae. Description This butterfly is seasonally variable. The upperside of the summer form's hindwings are all black, whereas the ...

(''P. comma''), but it can usually be distinguished by the irregular wing margins and the submarginal row of green spots on the underside. It is also strongly associated with the comma butterfly (''

Polygonia c-album ''Polygonia c-album'', the comma, is a food generalist ( polyphagous) butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae. The angular notches on the edges of the forewings are characteristic of the genus ''Polygonia'', which is why species i ...

'') within the genus based on larval development analysis and synaptomorphies. However the North American populations of ''Polygonia'' species can be distinguished from those of ''

'' in the fact that they occur only in cooler regions, with only one brood and without seasonal dimorphism, while the latter species occurs in some milder regions, with more generations and distinct seasonal forms.Bug Guide
/ref>

Biology

Females lay eggs on the upper surface of the leaves of the host plants. The solitary larvae feed on a wide range of hosts, especially on upland willow ('' Salix humilis''), ''

Betula lenta ''Betula lenta'' (sweet birch, also known as black birch, cherry birch, mahogany birch, or spice birch) is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southernmost Ontario, and south in the Appalachian Mounta ...

'',

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

, ''

Rhododendron occidentale ''Rhododendron occidentale'', the western azalea or California azalea, is one of two deciduous ''Rhododendron'' species native to western North America (the other is ''Rhododendron albiflorum''). The western azalea is known to occur as far north ...

'', and ''

Ribes ''Ribes'' is a genus of about 200 known species of flowering plants, most of them native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The various species are known as currants or gooseberries, and some are cultivated for their edible f ...

'' species. Other recorded plants are Nettles (''

Urtica ''Urtica'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Urticaceae. Many species have stinging hairs and may be called nettles or stinging nettles, although the latter name applies particularly to ''Urtica dioica''. ''Urtica'' species are food f ...

'' species), Hops (''

Humulus ''Humulus'', hop, is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The hop is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Hops are the female flowers (seed cones, strobiles) of the hop species '' H. lupulus''; as a main ...

'' species), Elm (''

Ulmus Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of Nor ...

'' species) and Azalea (''

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

'' species). These butterflies have one generation per year ( univoltines) and fly from May to September depending on the location. Adults overwinter until the following Spring.

Gallery

File: Polygonia faunus MHNT dos.jpg, Male, dorsal side - MHNT File: Polygonia faunus MHNT ventre.jpg, Male, ventral side - MHNT File: Green Comma, female, ventral.jpg, Female,

Temagami, Ontario Temagami, formerly spelled as Timagami, is a municipality in northeastern Ontario, Canada, in the Nipissing District with Lake Temagami at its heart. The Temagami region is known as ''n'Daki Menan'', the homeland of the area's First Nations commu ...

, Canada File: Nymphalidae - Polygonia faunus.webm, ''P. faunus'' from

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

. Video clip

References

External links

Butterflies and Moths of North-AmericaGreen comma
Butterflies of Canada *

Paul A. Johnsgard Paul Austin Johnsgard (28 June 1931 – 28 May 2021) was an ornithologist, artist and emeritus professor at the University of Nebraska. His works include nearly fifty books including several monographs, principally about the waterfowl and crane (b ...

br>Yellowstone Wildlife: Ecology and Natural History of the Greater Yellowstone
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3065159 Nymphalini Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1862 Taxa named by William Henry Edwards Articles containing video clips