A message with photograph this week from alert reader Ken Wiggers asked about a tattered butterfly seen on the ground, near the woodpile in mid-March! As shown below, the butterfly is the mourningcloak butterfly, Nymphalis antiopa, an attractive butterfly up to 3 inches across and with dark purple wings that have a wide creamy yellow border at the outer edge. This is not our most common or best-known butterfly, but it is one routinely seen around the state. The mourningcloak is not unique, but it is among a small handful of species of butterflies that indeed do survive the long, bleak, Iowa winter in the adult stage.
Mourningcloak butterflies spend the winter in the adult stage and appear in very early spring.
Overwintering Stage of Common Iowa Butterflies
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Name
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Overwinter Stage
E = Egg; L = Larva or caterpillar
P = Pupa or chrysalis; A = Adult
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Swallowtails (Family Papilionidae)
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Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)
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P
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Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes)
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P
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Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
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P
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Skipper (Family Hesperiidae)
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Silver-Spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)
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P
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Whites and Sulphurs (Family Pieridae)
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Cabbage White (Pieris rapae)
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P
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Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice)
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L or P
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Orange Sulphur = Alfalfa (Colias eurytheme)
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L or P
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Gossamer‑wing Butterflies (Family Lycaenidae)
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Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon)
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P
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Eastern Tailed‑Blue (Everes comyntas)
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fully grown L
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Brush‑footed Butterflies (Family Nymphalidae)
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Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
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migrates, repopulates
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Common Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)
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L
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Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)
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partly grown L
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Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)
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partly grown L
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Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma)
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A
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Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis)
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A
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Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)
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L newly emerged
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Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia)
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A
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Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis)
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L half grown
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Mourningcloak (Nymphalis antiopa)
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A
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Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
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migrates, repopulates
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Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
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migrates, repopulates;
possibly P or A
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American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)
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migrates, repopulates; possibly A
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Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)
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partly grown L
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Buckeye (Junonia coenia)
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migrant in Iowa
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American Snout (Libytheana carinenta)
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migrant in Iowa
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Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis)
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L
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