Painted Crescent (Phyciodes picta [W. H. Edwards])
Wing span: 1 - 1 1/2 inches (2.5 - 3.8 cm).
Identification: Upperside is dark with yellowish spots. Below, forewing apex and all of hindwing are yellow-cream with pale or absent markings.
Life history: Males patrol on flats all day for females. Eggs are laid in clusters on underside of host plant leaves; caterpillars eat leaves. Third-stage caterpillars hibernate.
Flight: Two to three flights from April-October.
Caterpillar hosts: Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), aster, and hairy tubetongue (Siphonoglosssa pilosella).
Adult food: Flower nectar.
Habitat: Marshes, stream edges, and washes in short-grass prairie; fields, roadsides, fencerows.
Range: Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado south to Texas, New Mexico, and western Arizona; northern Mexico.
