Butterflies of North Carolina

Common Name begins with:
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Scientific Name begins with:
[ A ] [ B ] [ C ] [ D ] [ E ] [ F ] [ G ] [ H ] [ J ] [ L ] [ M ] [ N ] [ O ] [ P ] [ S ] [ T ] [ U ] [ V ] [ Z ]

Once on a species account page, clicking on the "View PDF" link will show the flight data for that species, for each of the three regions of the state.
Other information, such as high counts and earliest/latest dates, can also been seen on the PDF page.

Related Species in HESPERIIDAE:
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Common Name

Southern Cloudywing by Betty Anderson => W. B. Umstead State Park, 2003-08-04
[View PDF]

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Scientific Name

Thorybes bathyllus

Link to BAMONA species account.

Map

Click on a county for list of all database records for the species in that county.

Distribution

DISTRIBUTION: Essentially statewide, but only scattered records for the Mountains and the northeastern and far eastern Coastal Plain. Likely occurs in all NC counties, unless absent in a few northern Coastal Plain counties.

Abundance

ABUNDANCE: Fairly common to locally common in the Sandhills portion of the Coastal Plain and in the lower Piedmont; generally fairly common in the remainder of the southern Coastal Plain. Uncommon in the western half of the Piedmont, rare to uncommon in the northern Coastal Plain, and rare in the Mountains (except somewhat more numerous in the southwestern Mountains). The species is clearly more numerous in the eastern half of the state than in the western half. For some reason, the species was shockingly scarce in much of the state in 2013, with only three records from the entire Coastal Plain.

Flight

FLIGHT PERIOD: Two broods; present from early April to mid-September, and sparingly to early November. Broods are mainly mid-April to mid-June, and late June to mid-September downstate. The Mountain records fall between mid-April and late August; broods there appear to be from the latter part of April to early July, and mid-July to the end of August.

Habitat

HABITAT: The species is found in typical skipper habitats -- woodland borders, old fields, powerline clearings, pine/oak scrub in the Sandhills, savannas, etc. It prefers dry or mesic places and is not typically found in wetlands.

See also Habitat Account for General Leguminous Forb and Shrublands

Plants

FOOD AND NECTAR PLANTS: The foodplants are herbaceous legumes (Fabaceae), particularly Goat's-rue (Tephrosia virginiana), tick-trefoils (Desmodium spp.), and fuzzy-beans (Strophostyles spp.). The adults nectar on many flowers.

Comments

COMMENTS: This species is similar to the other two cloudywing species, but it can usually be told from the Northern Cloudywing without too much trouble. I would like to say that there is a habitat separation between the Southern and the Northern Cloudywings, but I have not found any differences! The two species are often seen together, and the main differences seem to be geographic in NC.

State Rank

State Status

Global Rank

Federal Status

Synonym

Cecropterus bathyllus

Other Name

Links to other butterfly galleries: [Cook] [Lynch] [Pippen] [Pugh]
	Photo by: Sven Halling Comment: June 6, 2014, Pilot Mountain State Park, Surry Co. Southern Cloudywing - Click to enlarge	Photo by: Sven Halling Comment: June 6, 2014, Pilot Mountain State Park, Surry County Southern Cloudywing - Click to enlarge
	Photo by: Sven Halling Comment: May 3, 2012, Winston-Salem, Forsyth County Southern Cloudywing - Click to enlarge	Photo by: Chris Talkington Comment: Mecklenburg County 2-Aug-2014 Southern Cloudywing - Click to enlarge
	Photo by: Tom Sanders Comment: Mecklenburg Co., 2011-Sep Southern Cloudywing - Click to enlarge	Photo by: Tom Sanders Comment: Mecklenburg Co., 2010-July. Cowan's Ford Wildlife Refuge Southern Cloudywing - Click to enlarge