Butterflies and Moths of Padre Island National Seashore
A queen butterfly feeds on a Padre Island mistflower. This plant is a major nectar source for many pollinators on Padre Island.
Photo courtesy of Marian McNabb
Butterflies
The butterfly checklist below is current as of May 30, 2003 with 3 newly discovered species listed as numbers 40-42. Several species have been identified as new county records for Kleberg and Kenedy counties. Except as noted, each of the following butterfly species has been field identified and the park’s Resource Management division has a male and female of each species in its collection. Because field identification is sometimes difficult, a second source is verifying the identity of each species. Once the park’s butterfly study has been completed, a digital field guide of Padre Island butterflies will be available to the public. Note that the name of the park’s most common Buckeye (J. evarete) has been changed from Mangrove Buckeye (genoveva) to Tropical Buckeye (evarete) due to recent corrections in the taxonomic literature.