Denver-Boulder Metro Area: Butterflies and Moths
This guide contains butterflies and moths that can be found in the Denver-Boulder Metro Area, including Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson Counties.
Ridings' Satyr
Neominois ridingsii, Riding's Satyr, is a species of butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. It is found from southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba south to the Guadalupe and Catron counties of New Mexico, and west to the central Sierra Nevada of California and central Oregon. The habitat consists of short-grass prairie, intermountain areas and grasslands with some ...more ↓
Alberta Arctic
The Alberta Arctic (Oeneis alberta) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It is found from the Canadian prairie provinces east to southern Manitoba. Isolated populations are found along the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
White-veined Arctic
The White-veined Arctic or Arctic Grayling (Oeneis bore) is a butterfly, a species of Satyrinae that occurs in North America and Asia.
Chryxus Arctic
The Chryxus Arctic (Oeneis chryxus) is a butterfly, a species of Satyrinae that occurs in North America.
Jutta Arctic
Oeneis jutta, the Jutta Arctic or Baltic grayling, is a species of butterfly in the subfamily Satyrinae with a Circumboreal distribution. It occurs in bogs and tundra in the north of Europe, the Baltic states, the Urals, Siberia, northern Kazakhstan, the Russian Far East, northern Mongolia, northeastern China, North Korea, and northern North America (Canada from ...more ↓
Melissa Arctic
The Melissa Arctic (Oeneis melissa) is a species of butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. It has a Holarctic distribution, ranging from Siberia and the North American arctic from Alaska east to Baffin Island and Labrador. Isolated populations are found from the Rocky Mountains south to northern New Mexico and in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The habitat consists of ...more ↓
Uhler's Arctic
Oeneis uhleri, Uhler's Arctic, is a species of butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. It is found in north-eastern Alaska, Yukon and the western Northwest Territories and from central Alberta south through the Rocky Mountains to northern New Mexico and east through the Canadian prairie provinces to western Minnesota. The habitat consists of slopes in dry, open bunchgrass ...more ↓
Colorado Alpine
Erebia callias, the Colorado alpine, is a member of the Satyridae subfamily of the Nymphalidae butterflies. It is found in alpine areas of Wyoming and Colorado in the U.S. Rocky Mountains as well as various mountain ranges in eastern Asia.
Common Alpine
The Common Alpine (Erebia epipsodea) is a member of the Satyrinae subfamily of Nymphalidae. It is found from Alaska south through the Rocky Mountains to northern New Mexico and east across the prairie provinces to southwest Manitoba.
Magdalena Alpine
Erebia magdalena (Magdalena alpine) is a member of the Satyrinae subfamily of Nymphalidae. It is found from Montana, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, and in Canada in a small part of the Wilmore Wilderness Provincial Park, Alberta, and adjacent British Columbia, in Stone Mountain Provincial Park in northern British Columbia, and on an isolated nunatak in Kluane National ...more ↓
Theano Alpine
Erebia pawloskii, the yellow-dotted alpine, is a member of the Satyrinae subfamily of the Nymphalidae family. It is found in North America in northern British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. It is also found in the Sayan Mountains, and from northern Mongolia to Yakutia and Kamchatka. The habitat consists of grassy areas in and above wet tundra, as well as bogs.
Small Wood-Nymph
The Small Wood-nymph or Dark Wood-nymph (Cercyonis oetus) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It is found in Western North America.
Common Wood-Nymph
The Common Wood-nymph (Cercyonis pegala) is a North American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is also known as the Wood-nymph, Grayling,Blue-eyed Grayling, and the Goggle Eye.
Aphrodite Fritillary
The Aphrodite Fritillary (Speyeria aphrodite) is a fritillary butterfly, from North America. This orange coloured fritillary has rows of dark dots or chevrons at the wing edges and black or brown lines more proximally. The ventral side of the wings are also orange with several rows of white dots. Its wingspan is between 51 and 73 mm.
Atlantis Fritillary
The Atlantis Fritillary (Speyeria atlantis) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family of North America. It is from the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador to northern British Columbia, across northern United States south as far as Colorado and West Virginia. It resides as far north as James Bay.
Coronis Fritillary
The Coronis Fritillary (Speyeria coronis) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family of North America. It is common from Baja California to Washington and west to Colorado and western South Dakota and once reported in Alberta.
Great Spangled Fritillary
The Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family.
Edwards' Fritillary
The Edwards' Fritillary (Speyeria edwardsii) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family of North America. It is common from Alberta west to Manitoba and south as far as northern New Mexico.
Northwestern Fritillary
The Northwestern Fritillary (Speyeria hesperis) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It is found in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada, as far east as Manitoba and the Dakotas.
Regal Fritillary
The regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia) is a striking nymphalid butterfly found among some of the remaining tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies in the east-central United States. This prairie-specialist butterfly has a characteristic deep orange color and unmistakable dark hindwings with two bands of spots (Brock 2003). On the female, both bands of spots are white. However, on the ...more ↓
Mormon Fritillary
The Mormon Fritillary (Speyeria mormonia) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family of North America. It is common from northern California to British Columbia and west Saskatchewan, Colorado, and western South Dakota.
Zerene Fritillary
Speyeria zerene, the zerene fritillary, is a species of butterfly found in the western portions of the United States and Canada.
Meadow Fritillary
Boloria bellona, the meadow fritillary, is a North American butterfly in the brushfoot family, Nymphalidae. The common name, meadow fritillary, is also used for a European butterfly species, Melitaea parthenoides.
Arctic Fritillary
The Arctic Fritillary or Purplish Fritillary (Boloria chariclea) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It is found in the northern part of the Palearctic ecozone and the Nearctic ecozone.
Freija Fritillary
Boloria freija, the Freija fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae with a circumboreal distribution. It occurs in bogs and tundra. Its range includes Northern Europe to the north of 60° N, occasionally more southern locations, the Urals, Siberia, the Russian Far East, mountains of northern Mongolia and Hokkaido, as well as North America, extending in the ...more ↓
Silver-bordered Fritillary
The small pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria selene), called the silver-bordered fritillary in North America, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. The small pearl-bordered fritillary is found across Europe and North America, consuming exclusively violets in its larval stages. This species is well known to live in wet grassland habitats, where its larval food source, ...more ↓
Variegated Fritillary
The Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Even though the Variegated Fritillary has some very different characteristics from the Speyeria Fritillaries, it is still closely related to them. Some of the differences are: Variegated Fritillaries have 2–3 broods per year vs. one per year in Speyeria; ...more ↓
Gulf Fritillary
The Gulf fritillary or passion butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) is a bright orange butterfly of the family Nymphalidae and subfamily Heliconiinae. That subfamily was formerly set apart as a separate family, the Heliconiidae. The Heliconiinae are "longwing butterflies", which have long, narrow wings compared to other butterflies. Gulf fritillary is the only member of ...more ↓
Zebra Longwing
The Zebra Longwing or Zebra Heliconian (Heliconius charithonia) is a species of butterfly belonging to the subfamily Heliconiinae of the Nymphalidae.
Queen
The queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae with a wingspan of 70–88 mm (2.8–3.5 in). It is orange or brown with black wing borders and small white forewing spots on its dorsal wing surface, and reddish ventral wing surface fairly similar to the dorsal surface. The ventral hindwings have black veins and small white ...more ↓
Monarch
The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. It may be the most familiar North American butterfly. The monarch butterfly is not currently listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) or protected specifically under U.S. domestic laws. Its wings feature ...more ↓
American Snout
The American Snout or Common Snout Butterfly (Libytheana carinenta) is a member of the Libytheinae subfamily, in the brush-footed butterfly family Nymphalidae. This species is found in both North and South America. The larval host plants are Celtis spp. on which the eggs are laid singly. Massive migrations of this species often attract attention in the Texas ...more ↓
Colorado Hairstreak
The Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly (Hypaurotis crysalus) is a montane butterfly native to oak scrubland in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It was designated the state insect of Colorado in 1996.
Gray Hairstreak
The Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus), is one of the most common hairstreaks in North America, ranging over nearly the entire continent. It occurs also throughout Central America and in northern South America.
Acadian Hairstreak
The Acadian Hairstreak (Satyrium acadica) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia and south to Idaho, Colorado, the northern Midwest, Maryland, and New Jersey.
Behr's Hairstreak
The Behr's Hairstreak (Satyrium behrii) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in western North America from western Texas north and west through New Mexico, Arizona and southern California to British Columbia.
California Hairstreak
The California Hairstreak (Satyrium californica) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found from British Columbia south to southern California and east to Colorado.
Striped Hairstreak
The Striped Hairstreak (Satyrium liparops) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in North America, from the Rocky Mountains south from southern Canada to Colorado, east to Maine and south to Florida.
Hedgerow Hairstreak
The Hedgerow Hairstreak (Satyrium saepium) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in western North America, from British Columbia south through California into Baja California and east through northern Arizona to northern New Mexico, Colorado and Montana.
Coral Hairstreak
The Coral Hairstreak (Satyrium titus) is a North American butterfly in the family Lycaenidae.
Western Green Hairstreak
The Western Green Hairstreak or Immaculate Green Hairstreak (Callophrys affinis) is butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in western Canada and western USA.
Brown Elfin
The Brown Elfin (Callophrys augustinus) is butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in from Newfoundland north and west through the northern United States and the prairie provinces to Alaska. To the south it ranges in Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia and northern Alabama, further south through the western mountains to northern Baja California. Subspecies ...more ↓
Western Pine Elfin
The Western Pine Elfin (Callophrys eryphron) is a North American butterfly that ranges from British Columbia east to Maine and south to southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Males are brown and females are orange-brown, with both having bold patterned hind wings. The top of the wings have dark bars with a lighter chevron shaped margin. The body is 19–32 mm in ...more ↓
Juniper Hairstreak
The Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus) is a butterfly native to North America. It belongs in the family Lycaenidae.
Moss's Elfin
The Moss's Elfin (also Stonecrop Elfin and Schryver's Elfin) (Callophrys mossii) is a butterfly native to North America that belongs in the family Lycaenidae. It is found from British Columbia south to southern California and east to Wyoming and Colorado in isolated populations. The habitat consists of rocky outcrops, woody canyons and cliffs.
Hoary Elfin
The Hoary Elfin (Callophrys polios) is butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It has a very local distribution from Maine south to New Jersey and in the Appalachian Mountains to Virginia, west across the Great Lakes states and the southern prairie provinces and north to Alaska. Along the Pacific Coast it is found to northern California and in the Rocky Mountains south to northern ...more ↓
Sheridan's Hairstreak
Callophrys sheridanii, common name Sheridan's Hairstreak and Sheridan's Green Hairstreak, is a butterfly in the Lycaenidae family. It is found along the south coast of British Columbia and parts of Nevada, Arizona, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and New Mexico. In 2009, this species was adopted as the U.S. state butterfly for Wyoming.
Thicket Hairstreak
The Thicket Hairstreak (Callophrys spinetorum) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It was described by Hewitson in 1867. It is found from British Columbia through the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico and Mexico and through California to Baja California. The habitat consists of pinyon-juniper forests, mixed woodlands, and coniferous forests.
Tailed Copper
The Tailed Copper (Lycaena arota) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found from New Mexico north and west to Oregon, south to southern California and Baja California.
Gray Copper
The Grey Copper or Great Copper (Lycaena dione) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found from the southern Prairie Provinces of Canada and western Ontario south to Texas and east to Illinois and Missouri. There is a disjunct population in southern British Columbia.
Edith's Copper
Lycaena editha, known generally as the Edith's copper or great gray copper, is a species of copper in the family of butterflies known as Lycaenidae. It is found in North America.
Blue Copper
The Blue Copper (Lycaena heteronea) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in the western Canada and USA.
Ruddy Copper
The Ruddy Copper (Lycaena rubidus) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in the western mountains of North America.
Dorcas Copper
Lycaena dorcas is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae, the gossamer-winged butterflies. Its common names include dorcas copper and cinquefoil copper. It is native to North America. The species L. dospassosi was once included in L. dorcas.
Purplish Copper
The Purplish Copper (Lycaena helloides) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found from Great Lakes area to British Columbia, south to Baja California.
Bronze Copper
Lycaena hyllus, the bronze copper, is a butterfly of the lycaenids family found in North America.
Lustrous Copper
The Lustrous Copper (Lycaena cuprea) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in the western mountains of North America.
Spring Azure
The Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in North America from Alaska and Canada south of the tundra, through most of the United States except the Texas coast, southern plain and peninsula Florida; south in the mountains to Colombia.
Lucia Azure
Celastrina lucia, the lucia azure, northern azure, eastern spring azure or northern spring azure, is a species of butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found eastern North America, ranging from the Maritimes south through the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia.
Silvery Blue
The Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) is a small butterfly native to North America. Upperside is a light blue in males, a dull grayish blue in females. Underside is gray with single row of round spots of differing sizes depending upon region.
Arrowhead Blue
The Arrowhead Blue (Glaucopsyche piasus) is a western North American butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is a locally common butterfly that favors prairie, open woodland, and woodland edges and trails.
Ancilla Blue
The Rocky Mountain Dotted Blue (Euphilotes ancilla) is a species of butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found from Washington south to California and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan south through rockies and high plains to Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and northwestern New Mexico
Rita's Blue
The Rita Blue or Desert Buckwheat Blue (Euphilotes rita) is a species of butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.
Western Pygmy-Blue
The Western Pygmy Blue (Brephidium exilis or Brephidium exile) is one of the smallest butterflies in the world and is the smallest in North America. It has reached Hawaii. It has a wingspread of about half an inch.
Marine Blue
The Marine Blue or Striped Blue (Leptotes marina) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in from South America through Mexico up to Southern Texas, Arizona and California.
Western Tailed-Blue
The Western Tailed-blue (Cupido amyntula) is a member of the Lycaenidae family and is seen across western North America as far norther as Alaska. The upperside of the male butterfly is blue while the female has a darker brown band on the outer side of the wing. The underside is riddle with black spots, with a wingspan of 2.2 to 2.9 cm. The larvae feed on Thermopsis, ...more ↓
Eastern Tailed-Blue
The Eastern Tailed-blue or Eastern Tailed Blue (Cupido comyntas), also known as Everes comyntas, is a common butterfly of eastern North America. Males are generally blue on the upperside of their wings while females are lighter blue to brown or charcoal in coloring, but there are also varieties of purple and pink found in both sexes. The underside coloration ranges ...more ↓
Reakirt's Blue
The Reakirt's Blue (Hemiargus isola) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Central America and the extreme southern U.S., isola migrates regularly throughout most of the U.S. almost to the Canadian border, and very rarely into the southern Prairies.
Arctic Blue
The Arctic Blue or Glandon Blue (Agriades glandon) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. In North America it is found from Alaska east to Newfoundland, south through the mountains to Washington, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico. In Europe, it is found in mountainous areas like the Pyrenees and Alps, as well as the far north. It is also found in parts of ...more ↓
Boisduval's Blue
Aricia icarioides, or Boisduval's blue, is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family found in North America.
Lupine Blue
Aricia lupini, the lupine blue, is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found from south-western Canada, south through much of mountainous and intermountain western United States and high plains to northern Mexico.
Shasta Blue
Plebejus shasta, the Shasta blue, is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found from the northwestern United States to southern Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Melissa Blue
The Melissa Blue (Lycaeides melissa) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Western North America, from Canada to Mexico. The Karner Blue (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) is a subspecies of the Melissa Blue, and was described by the novelist/lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov. It is sometimes placed in the genus Plebejus.
Southern Dogface
The Southern Dogface, Colias cesonia, is a North American butterfly in the family Pieridae, subfamily Coliadinae (until recently the species was sometimes placed in the related genus Colias instead of Zerenia).
Little Yellow
The Little Yellow, Little Sulphur, or Little Sulfur (Eurema lisa) is a species of Coliadinae that occurs in Central America and the southern part of North America.
Lyside Sulphur
Kricogonia lyside, commonly known as the Lyside Sulphur or Guayacan Sulphur, is a North and South American butterfly in the family Pieridae. In seasons with heavy monsoons, this butterfly is seen in massive migrations which are frequent in Texas but more rare in the southwest. It is also an occasional resident in southern Florida.
Cloudless Sulphur
The Cloudless Sulphur or Cloudless Giant Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) is a midsized butterfly in the family Pieridae found in the New World. There are several similar species such as the Yellow Angled-sulphur (Anteos maerula), which has angled wings, or other sulphurs, which are much smaller.
Mexican Yellow
The Mexican Yellow (Eurema mexicana, sometimes called the Wolf-Face Sulphur) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Pieridae. It occurs mainly in Mexico but occasionally is found in central and southwestern USA and rarely in Canada.
Dainty Sulphur
The Dainty Sulphur or Dwarf Yellow (Nathalis iole) is a North American butterfly in the family Pieridae.
Queen Alexandra’s Sulphur
The Queen Alexandra's Sulphur, Alexandra Sulphur, or Ultraviolet Sulfur (Colias alexandra) is a butterfly in the family Pieridae found in western North America. Its range includes Alaska to the Northwest Territories and south to Arizona and New Mexico.
Orange Sulphur
The Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme), also known as the Alfalfa Butterfly and in its larval stage as Alfalfa Caterpillar, is a butterfly of the family Pieridae, where it belongs to the lowland group of "clouded yellows and sulphurs" subfamily Coliadinae. It is found throughout North America from southern Canada to Mexico, but is absent from the central and ...more ↓
Mead's Sulphur
The Mead's Sulphur (Colias meadii) is a butterfly in the family Pieridae found in North America. Its range includes the Rocky Mountains in Canada and the USA.
Clouded Sulphur
The Common or Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) is a North American butterfly in the family Pieridae, subfamily Coliadinae.
Scudder's Sulphur
Colias scudderii, the Willow Sulphur, is a butterfly in the Pieridae family. It is found from Alaska south through the Rocky Mountains to northern New Mexico. The habitat consists of mountain meadows and willow bogs.
Sleepy Orange
The Sleepy Orange (Eurema nicippe) is a North American butterfly in the family Pieridae.
Julia Orangetip
Anthocharis julia, the southern Rocky Mountain orangetip, is a butterfly found in the southern Rocky Mountains on the eastern side of the range.
Large Marble
Large Marble or Creamy Marblewing (Euchloe ausonides) is a species of butterfly that occurs in North America.
Olympia Marble
Euchloe olympia, the Olympia marble, is a butterfly in the Pieridae family. Its range is southern Canada and the midwest, down into the southwestern United States.
Pine White
The Pine White (Neophasia menapia) is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in western USA and in southern British Columbia.
Margined White
The Margined White (Pieris marginalis) is a butterfly found in the Yukon, Western Canada and the Rocky Mountains of North America.
