Regional Butterfly and Moth Information
Top 20 Commonly Reported Butterflies and Moths of Iowa
These are the most commonly reported butterflies and moths in Iowa. If you do not see the species you found, look at all photographs submitted in Iowa, or visit the Iowa page to see recently submitted sightings.
Monarch
Danaus plexippus
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Papilio glaucus
Pearl Crescent
Phyciodes tharos
Black Swallowtail
Papilio polyxenes
Orange Sulphur
Colias eurytheme
Red Admiral
Vanessa atalanta
Clouded Sulphur
Colias philodice
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Cupido comyntas
Cabbage White
Pieris rapae
Great Spangled Fritillary
Speyeria cybele
Common Wood-Nymph
Cercyonis pegala
Red-spotted Purple or White Admiral
Limenitis arthemis
Common Sootywing
Pholisora catullus
Question Mark
Polygonia interrogationis
Painted Lady
Vanessa cardui
Silver-spotted Skipper
Epargyreus clarus
Tawny-edged Skipper
Polites themistocles
'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple
Limenitis arthemis astyanax
Little Wood-Satyr
Megisto cymela
Peck's Skipper
Polites peckius
We can help identify your butterfly or moth!
If you know the date and location where the photograph was taken, we can help. It's simple!
A coordinator will review your submission, and you will get an email with the identification.
We will store your submitted data. Your submission will contribute to our species profiles, checklists, and database. You can track all your submissions and create a personal species list.
Identifying Caterpillars
Do you have a photograph of a caterpillar? If so, when you submit your photograph, please provide us with host plant information if possible. Consider raising it to the adult stage before submitting photographs.
Surprisingly, most of the larval stages of butterflies and moths are simply unknown, and caterpillar photographs can be very difficult to identify. It may take some time for a coordinator to identify your caterpillar.
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We depend on donations to keep Butterflies and Moths of North America freely available. We want to express our gratitude to all who showed their support by making a contribution this year. You can donate to support this project at any time.
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