• Butterflies
• Dragonflies
• Damselflies
• Tiger beetles
• Hike with Mike

• The butterflies:
• Brushfooted Butterflies
  • Snouts
  • Heliconians and Fritillaries
  • True Brushfoots
  • Admirals and Relatives
  • Leafwings
  • Emperors
  • Satyrs
  • Monarchs
• True Brushfoots
  • Gorgone Checkerspot
  • Silvery Checkerspot
  • Harris’ Checkerspot
  • Pearl Crescent
  • Northern Crescent
  • Tawny Crescent
  • Baltimore Checkerspot
  • Question Mark
  • Eastern Comma
  • Satyr Comma
  • Green Comma
  • Gray Comma
  • Compton Tortoiseshell
  • California Tortoiseshell
  • Mourning Cloak
  • Milbert’s Tortoiseshell
  • American Lady
  • Painted Lady
  • Red Admiral
  • Common Buckeye

Tawny Crescent

(Phyciodes batesii)

The Tawny Crescent looks very much like the Northern and Pearl Crescents and I have yet to see an individual that I could say was a Tawny Crescent. All photos that I have taken of crescents have orange tipped antennas, whereas the Tawny Crescent’s antennae are white and black. Ebner in “Butterflies of Wisconsin” tells of a collector in Marinette County in 1955–56 who attempted to discover this species in Wisconsin and collected over 5,000 crescents of which only 3 were this species! Dave Hanson’s photo of the male below is the first photo from below that I have seen from Wisconsin, and I was extremely happy to see visual proof that this species is present in Wisconsin. I believe that photos of females and males from above are so similar to the other crescents that it is impossible to identify this species from those photos.

Identifying characteristics: Above, both males and females are very much like the female Pearl and Northern Crescents, and usually are just slightly darker looking because of the larger amount of black markings. Below, the males of this species is uniformly colored on the hindwing, with little or no darker spot near the middle wing margin as in the Pearl and Northern Crescents.

Similar species: The females of all the crescents are very similar and before making a determination that this species exists, you need to look at the males and compare the hind wing underneath. In the Pearl and the Northern there is a significant darker area near the middle of the hindwing margin, which is absent in the Tawny Crescent.

Habitat: The Wisconsin DNR says that this species is found of drier, sandy habitats including barren areas, woodland openings, and roadsides.

Flight: One brood usually in June and early July, with a possible partial second brood in August

Abundance: It is difficult to tell if this species is just uncommon, or that it is just overlooked because it is so very much like the Northern and Pearl Crescents. I look at every Crescent that I see in hopes of viewing this species, but so far with no success. It is listed as a species of special concern in both Michigan and Wisconsin.

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