''Polygonia comma'', the eastern comma, is a North American

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

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 ha ...

, subfamily

Nymphalinae The Nymphalinae are a subfamily of brush-footed butterflies (family (biology), family Nymphalidae). Sometimes, the subfamilies Limenitidinae, and Biblidinae are included here as subordinate tribe (biology), tribe(s), while the tribe Melitaeini is ...

Description

This butterfly is seasonally variable. The upperside of the summer form's hindwings are all black, whereas the winter forms hindwings are reddish orange. The underside of both forms is striped with dark and light brown. There is a silvery comma mark in the middle of the hindwing in both forms. Its wingspan is .

Habitat

The eastern comma may be spotted in woods near rivers, ponds, marshes, swamps, and other water sources.

Nectar plants

This butterfly seldom visits flowers, but rather feeds on sap, rotting fruit, salts and minerals from puddling, and dung.

Host plants

Caterpillars feed on paper birch (''

Betula papyrifera A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contain ...

''), false nettle (''

Boehmeria cylindrica ''Boehmeria cylindrica'', with common names false nettle and bog hemp, is an herb in the family Urticaceae. It is widespread in eastern North America and the Great Plains from New Brunswick to Florida to Texas to Nebraska, with scattered report ...

''), hackberry ('' Celtis occidentalis''), hops (''

Humulus ''Humulus'', or 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 ...

''), wood nettle (''

Laportea canadensis ''Laportea canadensis'', commonly called Canada nettle or wood-nettle, is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant of the nettle family Urticaceae, native to eastern and central North America. It is found growing in open woods with moist rich soils ...

''), currants and gooseberries (''

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 species may be known as various kinds of currants, such as redcurrants, blackcurrants, and White ...

'' spp.), basswood (''

Tilia americana ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...

''), American elm (''

Ulmus americana ''Ulmus americana'', generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America. The trees can live for several hundred years. It is a very Hardiness (plants), hardy ...

''), nettle (''

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 (the latter name applying particularly to ''Urtica dioica, U. dioica''). The generic name ''Urtica' ...

''), and clearweed ('' Pilea pumila'').

Life cycle

The green eggs are laid singly or in stacks under host plant leaves and stems. The spiny larva varies in color from pale green to yellow to white and to even black. The solitary larva feeds on leaves at night. Older larvae construct daytime leaf shelters by pulling a single leaf together with silk. The chrysalis is brown and covered with spines. Winter-form adults overwinter;Scott, J. A. (1999)
Hibernal diapause of North American Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea.
''Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera'' 18(3):171-200. some will also migrate south for the winter.

Similar species

The dark form of comma is frequently confused with the dark form of the

question mark The question mark (also known as interrogation point, query, or eroteme in journalism) is a punctuation, punctuation mark that indicates a question or interrogative clause or phrase in many languages. History The history of the question mark is ...

(''P. interrogationis''), but the two can readily be distinguished by the shape of the comma mark on the underside. The pale form is easily confused with the satyr comma (''P. satyrus''), which usually occurs north and west of the eastern comma's range. They can be distinguished by the upperside color, which is orange brown in the comma and tawny yellowish brown in ''P. satyrus''; by the underside pattern, which tends to be mottled in the comma but appears to be more longitudinally streaked in ''P. satyrus''; and by the row of pale submarginal spots on the hindwing upperside, which tend to be separate and surrounded by dark shading in comma, but are larger and tend to run together into a pale band in ''P. satyrus''.

References

Eastern Comma
Butterflies of Canada

External links

on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Polygonia comma Butterflies of North America Taxa named by Thaddeus William Harris Butterflies described in 1842 Nymphalini Lepidoptera of the United States Lepidoptera of Canada