''Polygonia egea'', the southern comma, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The butterfly flies from March to September depending on the location. The larvae feed on ''

Parietaria officinalis ''Parietaria officinalis'', the eastern pellitory-of-the-wall, also known as upright pellitory and lichwort, is a plant of the nettle family. Its leaves, however, are non-stinging. The plant grows on rubbish and on walls, hence the name. The pol ...

''.

Description in Seitz

''P. egea'' Cr. (= ''triangulum'' F., ''i album'' Esp., female = ''vau album'' Esp.) (64c). A species similar to c-album with the wings more strongly dentate and narrower, and the underside more thinly marmorated and pencilled, the hindwing beneath bearing in the centre a white angle-, hook- or J-mark. The female flying at the same season as the nymotypical has the wings less sharply dentate, is paler, less prominently and more sparsely marked. Ab. ''autumnalis'' Curo (? Stefan, i. 1.) (64c as ''j-album'') is the autumn-form, which has the wings more strongly angulate and of a darker ground-colour. The spots are very prominent, the distal margin of both wings is darkened, the light submarginal spots of the hindwing are very distinct, though small and isolated, and the underside is darkened. — The larva of the species feeds on Picrataria diffusa Keh. (Urticaceae) in July and October; as food-plants are also mentioned ''Ulmus'', ''Urtica'', ''Ribes'', ''Lonicera'', ''Corylus'' (Spuler). It is blackish or slaty grey, with yellow and black belts, the body bearing minute white hairs and dark branched spines; on the back there are pairs of large bluish black spots on a pale ground; the spirales are edged with yellowish, beneath them there being a reddish yellow line; the head heart-shape with 2 spine-like processes. Pupa grey-brown, tuberculate above, without metallic spots, the head not produced. Stichel, H. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, ''Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter'', 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)

References

Nymphalini Butterflies described in 1775 Butterflies of Europe Taxa named by Pieter Cramer {{Nymphalinae-stub