Northern Cloudywing (Cecropterus pylades) lives in open savanna across North America. It feeds on nectar and pollen.
Fascinating facts about the Northern Cloudywing
- The northern cloudywing spans a continent, spotted from Nova Scotia west across Canada and then south into California, continuing across the rest of the United States. It prefers open boreal woodlands, forest edges, and open fields, habitats that stitch together the massive range like a patchwork quilt of suitable flight corridors.
- Females lay each egg singly under a host-plant leaf, a strategy that spreads risk and ensures each caterpillar has immediate access to food. Once hatched, the larvae munch on the leaf until ready to pupate, then roll themselves into the same leaf for protection. Their menu is limited to legumes such as Desmodium, Lespedeza, Trifolium, Hosackia, and other Fabaceae members, tying the butterfly's life cycle tightly to the presence of these plants in its habitat.
- With a wingspan that stretches only 32 to 47 mm, the northern cloudywing both sexes wear completely dark brown wings punctuated by tiny triangular clear spots.
- Adults take to the air between May and July in the north. Farther south the season stretches from March to September, allowing two full broods to develop in the same year.
- In the north, adult northern cloudywings take to the air only once a year, buzzing from May through July, while their southern cousins squeeze in two generations from March to September.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangeNorth America
HabitatOpen savanna
DietNectar and pollen
About the Northern Cloudywing
In the warm, golden light of a summer's day, the Northern Cloudywing dances across the landscape, its delicate, smoky wings beating with a hypnotic rhythm as it flits from bloom to bloom in search of nectar. With a subtle, understated beauty, this unassuming butterfly navigates the world with a quiet confidence, its mottled grey and brown hues allowing it to blend seamlessly into the dappled shade of its woodland habitats. As it moves, its wings leave behind a trail of whispery motion, a fleeting glimpse of elegance in the midst of a bustling natural world.
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