Common Wood Nymph (Butterflies of Fundy National Park of Canada / Les papillons du parc national du Canada Fundy)

Common Wood Nymph

Cercyonis pegala

Summary ⁶

The Common Wood-nymph (Cercyonis pegala) is a North American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is also known as the Wood-nymph, Grayling,Blue-eyed Grayling, and the Goggle Eye.

General description ⁷

The upperside is an even, dark chocolate brown with two dark (often white-pupilled) forewing eyespots, with two or three hindwing underside spots (sometimes a complete row). The eyespots are better-developed on the underside, which has fine, dark striations and a vague median line. Females are larger and paler, often with a more pronounced pale patch surrounding the eyespots dorsally. There is no orange surrounding the dorsal forewing eyespots as in eyed Erebia species. C. oetus is similar, but pegala never has the upper forewing spot larger than the lower one, is slighlty larger overall, and often has blue scales in the forewing underside spots. Subspecies ino, named from Calgary, reportedly describes all Alberta populations (Bird et al. 1995).

Distribution ⁸

BC and Alberta south to CA and AZ, east across the continent to the east coast (Layberry et al. 1998).

Habitat ⁹

Grasslands, meadows, pastures and roadsides throughout most of Alberta except the boreal.

Migration ¹⁰

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Flowering plants visited by cercyonis pegala in illinois ¹¹

Cercyonis pegala Fabricius: Nymphalidae, Lepidoptera
(observations are from Robertson, Graenicher, Reed, and Clinebell; this butterfly is the Common Wood Nymph)

Apiaceae: Eryngium yuccifolium sn (Rb), Heracleum maximum sn (Rb); Asteraceae: Cirsium vulgare sn (Gr), Liatris pycnostachya sn (Cl), Liatris spicata sn (Gr); Lamiaceae: Agastache foeniculum sn (Re), Monarda fistulosa sn (Cl); Rubiaceae: Cephalanthus occidentalis sn (Rb)

Insect activities:
sn = sucks nectar

Scientific observers:
(Cl) = Clinebell
(Gr) = S. Graenicher
(Rb) = Charles Robertson
(Re) = Catherine Reed

Behaviour ¹²

Adults feed on flower nectar and rarely sap and dung. Males patrol for females (Scott, 1986).

Conservation status ¹³

Not of concern.

Threats ¹⁴

Degree of Threat: D : Unthreatened throughout its range, communities may be threatened in minor portions of the range or degree of variation falls within natural variation

Sources and Credits

(c) David Hofmann, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/23326361@N04/2964995671
(c) Jeffrey Pippen, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://butterfliesofamerica.com/images/Nymphalidae/Satyrinae/Cercyonis_p_pegala/Cercyonis_p_pegala_Tyrrell_Co_NC_21-VI-03_b2.jpg
(c) Darrin OBrien, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3069/2618262353_cd78222dda.jpg
(c) Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/specimen_images/ent-lepidoptera/images/2010_02_02/IMG_030923.JPG
(c) Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/specimen_images/ent-lepidoptera/images/2010_02_02/IMG_030814.JPG
(c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cercyonis_pegala
(c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31885808
(c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31885807
(c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31885809
(c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/28768581
(c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/32697647
(c) Leslie Ries, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/20605293
(c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31885805
(c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/28768574

More Info

Range Map

iNaturalist.ca Map

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