''Phyciodes pulchella'', the field crescent, is a

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 ...

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 ha ...

. It is found in the

Nearctic realm The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 24–36 mm. The butterfly flies from May to August in Canada.Field Crescent
Butterflies of Canada The larvae feed on

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

species.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:"''Phyciodes'' Hübner, [1819]"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' *''P. p. camillus'' Edwards, 1871 *''P. p. deltarufa'' Scott, 1998 *''P. p. inornatus'' Austin, 1998 *''P. p. montana'' (Behr, 1863) *''P. p. owimba'' Scott, 1998 *''P. p. pulchella'' *''P. p. tutchone'' Scott, 1994 *''P. p. shoshoni'' Scott, 1994 *''P. p. vallis'' Austin, 1998

Similar species

*''Phyciodes cocyta'' – northern crescent *''Phyciodes batesii'' – tawny crescent *''Phyciodes mylitta'' – Mylitta crescent *''Phyciodes pallida'' – pale crescent *''Phyciodes tharos'' – pearl crescent

References

External links

Field Crescent
Butterflies and Moths of North America
Species ''Phyciodes pulchella'' - Field Crescent
BugGuide Melitaeini Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1852 Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Boisduval Lepidoptera of Canada {{Nymphalinae-stub