Wing span: 1 3/8 - 2 inches (3.5 - 5.1 cm).

Identification: Upperside is pale yellow-orange with dark borders and markings. Hindwing above and below has some white-centered submarginal spots; hindwing below is pale with a large white crescent at the margin.

Life history: Males perch and patrol all day in open areas. Females lay eggs in batches of about 100 on the underside of host plant leaves. Young caterpillars move in groups as they skeletonize leaves. Partially-grown caterpillars hibernate.

Flight: One brood in the north from June-July, two broods in remainder of range from May-September. Possibly three to four broods in the Deep South and Texas.

Caterpillar hosts: Many different composites including black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia), sunflowers (Helianthus), and wingstem (Actinomeris alternifolia).

Adult food: Nectar from flowers of red clover, common milkweed, and dogbane.

Habitat: Moist, somewhat open places including streamsides, meadows, forest openings.

Range: Maritime Provinces west to southeast Saskatchewan; south through Wyoming and Colorado to central Arizona, southern New Mexico, south-central Texas, and Mississippi.