Rivera, Red Spotted Purple

Red Spotted Purple female butterflies prefer to lay eggs along the tips of cherry or willow leaves near water courses or along power or gas line right of ways near forest edges. Once the egg hatches into a young first instar caterpillar, it begins to feed around the vein of the leaf; creating a conspicuous perch and then extending that perch with dung and debris. As shown, the butterfly is a striking blue with some red or orange accents on it’s wings, though the caterpillars are less ornate – usually a brown to use as camouflage. The Red Spotted Purple is also very similar to the White Admiral. The two share the same body structure, and only differ in habitat and coloring. The Red Spotted Purple is indigenous to the eastern part of the United States and feed particularly on sap, rotting fruit, and dung.

The Red Spotted Purple lays a single egg at a time which is unusual in insects, though is common for many types of butterflies. Traditionally, laying many eggs is advantageous for animals which fall near the bottom of the food chain.

Not many stories or folk tales are recorded about this rather inconspicuous butterfly. Few contemporary writers even mention it. One instance of this is May Swenson’s poem “Unconscious Came a Beauty” (Shown below).