November is stick season in Vermont and although it’s too cold for butterflies, we can still be reminded of them by the leaves on the ground. The oranges, browns, and blacks of these two related summer butterflies would help them blend in well now.
Which of the following photos shows a Tawny Emperor?
The butterfly on the left is the Tawny Emperor. The butterfly on the right is the closely related Hackberry Emperor.
Both of these species enjoy the Common Hackberry, a tree species found along some rivers in Vermont. You can tell them apart from two main traits both on the upperside of their forewings (the side shown here).
If you look at the fore edge of the forewing in both of these pictures and follow the edge from the body towards the wing tip, the first black you hit will be two black wavy lines. If you look close, you will see that the waves on the Tawny Emperor on the left are continuous and relatively straight, while the Hackberry Emperor on the right have waves that look like they are made up of two dots instead of a line.
Moving down the wing towards the bottom outer edge of the forewing, you will see a large black dot in the Hackberry Emperor. This dot is absent on the Tawny Emperor wing on the left.
Photos by
Tawny Emperor by Mark Wilson (iNaturalist)
Hackberry Emperor by izzykracken (iNaturalist)
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