Common Butterfly Species

It is estimated that there are about 20,000 species of butterflies in the world. In North America, there are 725 species (north of Mexico), with about 575 of these occurring regularly in the lower 48 states of the United States. About 275 species are found in Canada, and about 2,000 in Mexico.

Included on this website are some of the more common butterflies and moths found in backyard gardens, home landscapes, residential areas, nearby parks and along roadsides in North America.

Here are photo highlights of the 160 butterflies and moths currently featured on this website! Click any image for details and more photos.

Swallowtails
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail	Black Swallowtail	Zebra Swallowtail
Pipevine Swallowtail	Spicebush Swallowtail	Two-tailed Swallowtail
Giant Swallowtail	Anise Swallowtail	Palamedes Swallowtail
Indra Swallowtail	Polydamus Swallowtail	Pale Swallowtail
Old World Swallowtail		Western Tiger Swallowtail

Some of the Fritillary Family
Gulf Fritillary	Variegated Fritillary	Zerene Fritillary
Mormon Fritillary	Great Spangled Fritillary	Diana Fritillary
Great Basin Fritillary	Nokomis Fritillary (M)	Nokomis Fritillary (F)
Purplish Fritillary	Aphrodite Fritillary	Mexican Fritillary
Edwards Fritillary	Pacific Fritillary	Silver-bordered Fritillary

The Ladies
American Lady	Painted Lady	West Coast Lady

Monarch and Look-Alikes
Monarch	Viceroy	Soldier
	Queen

Brush Footed Butterflies
Common Buckeye	Mourning Cloak	Red-Spotted Purple
Bordered Patch	Red Admiral	Pearl Crescent
Question Mark	Red Satyr	Common Mestra

Hairstreaks
Gray Hairstreak	Great Purple Hairstreak	Arizona Hairstreak
Red Banded Hairstreak	Zebra Hairstreak	Juniper Hairstreak
King Hairstreak	Striped Hairstreak	Silver-banded Hairstreak
Hedgerow Hairstreak	Golden Hairstreak	Nelson's Juniper Hairstreak
Coral Hairstreak		Mallow Scrub Hairstreak

Crescents
Pearl Crescent	Phaon Crescent	Texan Crescent
Pale-banded Crescent	Mylitta Crescent	Northern Crescent
Field Crescent		Vesta Crescent

Skippers
Fiery Skipper	Long-tailed Skipper	White-striped Longtail
Texas Powdered Skipper	Golden-banded Skipper	Silver-spotted Skipper
Two-barred Flasher	Mangrove Skipper	Guava Skipper
Sickle-winged Skipper	Horace's Duskywing	Funereal Duskywing
White-patched Skipper		Lavinia White Skipper

Longwing Butterflies
Gulf Fritillary	Julia Heliconian	Zebra Heliconian

Emperor Butterflies
Silver Emperor	Tawny Emperor	Empress Leilia
	Hackberry Emperor

The Punctuation Family: Some Commas and a Question Mark?
Eastern Comma	Hoary Comma	Question Mark
Green Comma	Satyr Comma	Zephyr Comma

Metalmarks
Curved-wing Metalmark	Red-bordered Metalmark	Rounded Metalmark
Arizona Metalmark	Fatal Metalmark	Zela Metalmark
Walker's Metalmark	Mormon Metalmark	Sonoran Metalmark
Nais Metalmark	Ares Metalmark	Behr's Metalmark
	Blue Metalmark

Admirals
Red Admiral	Weidemeyers Admiral	White Admiral

Leafwings
Goatweed Leafwing	Tropical Leafwing	Pale-Spotted Leafwing

Checkerspots
Variable Checkerspot	Anicia Checkerspot	Northern Checkerspot
Gilletts Checkerspot	Sagebrush Checkerspot	Arizona Checkerspot
Fulvia Checkerspot	Tiny Checkerspot	Ediths Checkerspot
Gorgone Checkerspot	Theona Checkerspot	Arachne Checkerspot
Elada Checkerspot		Black Checkerspot

Some of the Blues
Acmon Blue	Melissa Blue	Blue Metalmark
Arizona Hairstreak	Eastern Tailed-blue	Greenish Blue

Black Butterflies
Red-bordered Pixie	Weidemeyers Admiral	Crimson Patch

Orange Butterflies
Goatweed Leafwing	Ruddy Daggerwing	Comma
Tawny Emperor	Julia Heliconian	Soldier

Brown Butterflies
Arizona Sister	Tropical Buckeye	Common Wood Nymph
Milbert's Tortoiseshell	Common Buckeye	Mourning Cloak

White Butterflies
Cabbage White	Checkered White	White Peacock
Desert Marble	Falcate Orangetip	Common Mestra
Lavinia White Skipper	Rocky Mountain Parnassian	Great Southern White
Margined White		Clodius Parnassian

Yellow Butterflies
Orange Sulphur	Southern Dogface	Clouded Sulphur

Popular Butterfly Books at our Amazon Store
Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America	Peterson First Guide to Butterflies and Moths of North America
The Life Cycles of Butterflies	Stoke's Beginner's Guide to Butterflies
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