The Red Admiral is a dark medium-sized butterfly with an orange-red horseshoe design on the upper surface of all four of the wings.

Red Admirals are active in the Hocking Hills from late spring through fall. They frequent woodland clearings and edges, parks, and gardens.

The caterpillars eat nettle plants. The caterpillars are easy to find, just look for a nettle leaf that is sewn into a miniature sleeping bag.

The Monarch is a large orange butterfly with black stripes. It has black wing edges with white dots.

Monarchs prefer open fields and gardens with milkweed. The Monarch caterpillers eat only milkweed, but the butterflies sip nectar from a wide variety of nectar-producing flowers.

These migrating butterflies usually arrive in the Hocking Hills in late spring or early summer. They remain in the area through early fall when they migrate to Mexico for the winter.

This large dark swallowtail has sky blue hindwings with pale blue spots along the wing margins. It has two rows of orange spots on the underside of the hindwings.

Spicebush Swallowtails are active in the Hocking Hills from late spring throughout summer. They prefer wooded habitats and meadows adjacent to woodlands.

The caterpillars are snake mimics that eat leaves of spicebush shrubs and sassafras trees.

This large orange butterfly has a series of black dots and chevrons on the upper surface of the wings.

These butterflies are common during summer in the Hocking Hills when milkweed is blooming in fields, gardens, and woodlot edges.

Fritillary caterpillars feed on violets at night and hide during the day in leaf litter. The caterpillars overwinter nearby in the cracks of the bark of large trees.

The Pearl Crescent is a small orange butterfly with bold dark lines.

Pearl Crescents are active everywhere in the Hocking Hills from mid-spring through summer. They prefer open fields, gardens, and woodlot edges with a variety of aster plants.

The caterpillars eat all parts of aster plants, but aster flowers also provide nectar for the butterflies!

Sulphur butterflies are medium-sized, yellow or orange, and frequently have a black border around the wing edges. The Orange Sulphur flashes orange from its upper forewings when flying.

Orange Sulphurs are active in the Hocking Hills from mid-spring, throughout summer, and into fall. They prefer open fields and gardens, in both urban and agricultural areas where the caterpillars eat alfalfa and clover.

The life cycle of butterflies may seem straight forward but many species have interesting variations on the theme called “complete metamorphosis.” Some butterfly species complete the cycle several times in one year, others only once. Some species overwinter as eggs, some as larvae, some as pupae in the chrysalis and some as adults. Most adult butterflies are short-lived. Few live more than 7-10 days, with the exception of overwintering species, such as monarchs, mourning cloaks, and question marks, which may live as long as 12 months.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Provide habitat for wildlife year-round. For example, plan your garden so you have flowering plants from early spring to late fall. Consider what butterflies need to complete their entire life cycle – nectar plants, host plants, and areas for overwintering.

Plant native plants whenever possible. Native plants provide butterflies and their caterpillars the resources they need and when they need them. For example, don’t plant tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) which is not native to Ohio when there are many native milkweed species available.

Leaving the leaves on the ground and dead stems through the winter is important. Caterpillars and butterflies use these for shelter to survive the freezing temperatures

ANNUAL - Plants with a one-year life cycle. They grow, bloom, produce seeds, and die in one year’s time.

BROOD - A generation of butterflies that completes a whole life cycle.

BUTTERFLY - a nectar-feeding, diurnal insect with two pairs of large, typically brightly colored wings that are covered with microscopic scales. Distinguished from moths by having clubbed antennae, holding their wings erect when at rest.

CATERPILLAR - the larva of a butterfly or moth, having a segmented wormlike body with three pairs of true legs and several pairs of appendages similar to legs. Caterpillars may be hairy, have warning coloration, or be colored to resemble their surroundings.

CHRYSALIS - a hardened coating of protein protecting an insect pupa inside; mostly associated with butterflies

COCOON - a silk casing, protecting an insect pupa inside; mostly associated with moths

DIAPAUSE - a period of suspended development, especially during unfavorable environmental

conditions

DIURNAL - of, relating to, or occurring during the day

FORB - a herbaceous flowering plant other than a grass

FUNGICIDE - a substance that destroys fungus (molds, yeast, mushrooms, and toadstools)

HERBICIDE - a substance that is toxic to plants, used to destroy unwanted vegetation

HOST PLANT - known as nurseries of the garden; specific plants on which caterpillars must eat

INSECTICIDE - a substance used for killing insects

LARVA - the active immature form of an insect

LOAM - a fertile soil with roughly equal proportions of sand, silt, and clay

NATIVE - plants indigenous to a given area in geologic time

NECTAR - a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries

NOCTURNAL - of, relating to, or occurring at night

PERENNIAL - Plants that persist for many growing seasons. Generally the top portion of the plant dies back each winter and regrows the following spring from the same root system

PESTICIDE - a substance used for destroying insects or other organisms

PRUNING - horticultural and silvicultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots PUPA - the intermediate stage between the larva and adult insect

SKIPPER - a diurnal insect related to butterflies. Instead of knobbed antennae, the tips are usually hooked and the wing structure differs from butterflies. Flight is more erratic than most butterflies. Typically brown, tan, or yellow-orange in color.