Common backyard butterflies in Virginia and the southeastern United States

One of the best things about my garden this year is how many pollinators I have been able to attract. Last year, I didn’t see nearly as many as I would have liked, so I took steps to attract more. It has been such a delight this year to see so many different kinds of butterflies in my garden. For me, it is magical to see them fluttering around so often. I have made it my mission to learn as much as I can about the butterflies in Virginia and to be able to identify them all. I’m sharing this with you to help you do the same.

Butterflies in Virginia (common to the eastern United States)

Here are some of my favorites, but certainly not an exhaustive list.

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly

1. Top (Dorsal): black with blue iridescence at bottom
2. Ventral (Side): black with large orange dots ringed in white, then black along the bottom of wing
3. Abdomen: black/blue with row of white spots
4. Eggs: Orange/Red with small bumps laid in clusters
5. Caterpillar: early instar is reddish with spikes; later it’s nearly black with spikes and orange dots and two big tentacles
6. Chrysalis: green or brown, mimics a folded leaf
7. Host: pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla) and Virginia snakeroot (Aristolochia serpentaria)

Black Swallowtail

The black swallowtail caterpillar happily munching away on curly parsley, one of their host plants.

Key Identifiers: White spots on body, orange spot with black in the center at the bottom center of wings.

1. Top (Dorsal): black with blue iridescence towards bottom, have horizontal rows of yellow markings extending across their wingspan, has an orange eyespot (orange circle with a black dot in the ceter) near the margin of each hind wing.
2. Side (Ventral): black, two rows of orange dots on bottom
3. Abdomen: black with rows of yellow spots extending down the length of their bodies
4. Eggs: white to yellow in color 
5. Caterpillar: bright green with black bands and yellow spots
6. Chrysalis: green, will turn clear before hatching
7. Host: dill, fennel, parsley, carrots, celery, Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly (Black Form)

Key Identifiers: You can sometimes see a shadow of the tiger stripes on the ventral view. They have a black body with no spots. There is a tiny bit of orange on both sides at inner bottom of wings. The black morph are always female only.

1. Top (Dorsal): black with blue iridescence, single or double row of pale yellow dashes extending down the outer edge of each wing, tiny bit of orange on both sides at inner bottom of wings
2. Side (Ventral): black, thin row of white/yellow spots on upper wing, single row of orange spots on the bottom, can sometimes see shadow of tiger stripes
3. Abdomen: solid black
4. Egg: round green eggs
5. Caterpillar: green, yellow and black “eyes”, transverse band of faint blue dots on each abdominal segment 
6. Chrysalis: brown, uneven
7. Host: cottonwood, ash, birch, wild black cherry, tulip tree, sweet bay (magnolia), and willow

Spicebush Swallowtail

Key Identifiers: The dots on the wings are bigger and more round than the tiger or black. Also, there is a swoosh of blue on the ventral view where an orange dot is missing.

1. Top (Dorsal):   black bordered with pale, greenish spots. Hind wings on the male have a blue-green band, and the female has a blue shading
2. Side (Ventral): two rows of orange dots and in the row closest to the body one dot is missing -it looks like a blue swoosh
3. Abdomen: black with white dots
4. Egg: spherical and greenish-white or white 
5. Caterpillar: bright green and smooth, with a prominent pair of black and yellow eyespots on a hump behind the actual head, and two more yellow spots behind those.
6. Chrysalis: have two anterior “horns,” may be either green or brown
7. Host: Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), sassafras trees (Sassafras albidum); perhaps prickly ash (Zanthoxylum americanum), tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), camphor (Cinnamomum camphora), and redbay (Persea borbonia).

Red-Spotted Purple Admiral Butterfly

1. Top (Dorsal): black/blue with some dots of color at outer wing tops, several rows of curved white dashes all along wing bottom 
2. Side (Ventral): blue/black with orange dots ringed in black at top middle and bottom row, curved white dashes at bottom border
3. Abdomen: black with white dots
4. Eggs: whitish/pale green round with hexagon pattern with spikes, later turns gray
5. Caterpillar: brownish/greenish with white, two large tentacles
6. Chrysalis: brown, white, slimy looking
7. Host: black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.), deerberry (Vaccineum stamineum L.), Carolina willow (Salix caroliniana Michx.), tulip-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

1. Top (Dorsal): yellow/black stripes, black border, blue at inner wing bottoms (females only), tiny bit of orange at bottom center of wings
2. Side (Ventral): very light yellow and black stripes, blue at bottom for female
3. Abdomen:
4. Egg: round yellowish
5. Caterpillar: early instar is brown with eyespots, later it is green with false eyes, single yellow line at top of “neck” 
6. Chrysalis: brown, uneven
7. Host: cottonwood, ash, birch, wild black cherry, tulip tree, sweet bay (magnolia), and willow

Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly

1. Top (Dorsal): black and white stripes, dot of red at center bottom, long tails
2. Side (Ventral): black and white stripes, red stripe at mid bottom
3. Abdomen: black and white stripes
4. Egg: brownish pearly looking
5. Caterpillar: early instar is black and spiky, then black with faint yellow stripes, then green with yellow stripes and a blue/black yellow set of thicker stripes at “neck”, two yellow tentacles
6. Chrysalis: green leaf looking and then brown
7. Host: pawpaw (Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal)

Monarch Butterfly

1. Top (Dorsal): bright orange and black veining and margins, white spots on outer margins
2. Side (Ventral): much the same as dorsal, but lighter in color
3. Abdomen: black with white spots
4. Egg: white shaped like a stocking hat, has ridges
5. Caterpillar: black/yellow/white banding, black tentacles on both ends
6. Chrysalis: green compact with gold specks, later black, then clear when it’s about to emerge
7. Host: milkweed (asclepias incarnata, asclepias syriaca, asclepias tuberosa) Note: Do not use tropical milkweed for our area.

Variegated Fritallary

1. Top (Dorsal): burnt orange and black markings and dots (Note: no silver spots)
2. Side (Ventral): shades of brown, some of the brownish orange
3. Abdomen: brown
4. Egg: Creamy colored and ribbed
5. Caterpillar: orange body with black stripes and white spots, and branching spines
6. Chrysalis: shiny, pearl-colored white with small black and brown spots and streaks and it has rows of shiny gold spikes.
7. Host:  passion vines (passiflora incarnata), violets, pansies, purslane, mayapple, flax and others

Comparison of the black and blue butterflies that look similar

I hope this was helpful and that you have learned more about butterflies in Virginia and the eastern U.S.

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