Pearl Crescent
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) butterflies are mainly found in the eastern part of North America, but a few of these dainty butterflies can be found as far west as Arizona and the southeastern part of California. I observed this Pearl Crescent butterfly visiting the flowers of an Alkali Marsh Aster (Almutaster pauciflorus) in a marshy riparian area in Tucson, Arizona.
The dorsal wing surfaces of Pearl Crescent butterflies are orange with black or brown borders and a variable web of dark, slender, irregular lines. Their less colorful ventral wing surfaces are patterned with cream, pale orange, brown, and sometimes black and pale gray. Their antennae have orange-tipped knobs when viewed from above, but those of the males appear solid black when viewed from below. Not wanting to kneel down on the wet, marshy ground, I never did observe this butterfly from below, so I wasn't able to figure out if it was male or female.
Pearl Crescent butterflies feed on the nectar of a variety of flowers, but aster flowers seem to be a particular favorite, probably because asters are conveniently also their larval host plant. A Male Pearl Crescent butterfly will patrol around an aster plant waiting for any receptive females to be attracted to it.
Painted Damsel
During the warm months of the year in the Southwest, colorful and graceful Painted Damsels (Hesperagrion heterodoxum) can be seen darting about and resting on slender reeds and tall grasses in lush riparian areas.
The distinctive male Painted Damsels are mostly brilliant turquoise blue and black with a red-tipped abdomen and red spots behind the eyes. The females are turquoise blue, green, and black. Immature Painted Damsels are also colorful, but their colors differ greatly from those of the adults. Immature males are mostly scarlet-orange and black with red eye-spots, while the immature females are mostly orange.
Although Painted Damsels and other damselflies (Suborder Zygoptera) resemble small dragonflies (Suborder Anisoptera), they can easily be distinguished because damselflies typically hold their wings parallel to the body when resting instead of perpendicular like dragonflies.
Like dragonflies, adult damselflies capture mosquitoes and other small flying insects. Damselfly nymphs (larvae) are aquatic and feed on aquatic invertebrates like mosquito larvae. Since both the adults and the nymphs are mosquito predators, colorful damselflies like this one are not just pretty, they are actually quite beneficial to have around.
