Weidemeyer’s Admiral (Limenitis weidemeyerii)
Weidemeyer’s Admiral Overview
The Weidemeyer’s Admiral Butterfly is a medium to a large-sized butterfly that can be found in the western United States. Found in woodlands, aspen groves, willows, and foothills, these butterflies will tend to stick to the forests and trees as their caterpillars use the leaves as a food source and will, later on, eat the trees sap and surrounding nectar as adults. Weidemeyer’s Admiral Butterflies belong to the Family Nymphalidae which is the largest family of butterflies in the world with over 6,000 individual species. The butterfly gets its name from entomologist John William Weidemeyer who found this butterfly in the Rocky Mountains with his specimen being used to describe the species.
Weidemeyer’s Admiral (Limenitis weidemeyerii) butterfly in Beartooth Mountains, Montana
Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Lepidoptera
- Family: Nymphalidae
- Genus: Limenitis
- Species: L. weidemeyerii
Size and Body Description
Weidemeyer’s admiral Butterfly has black wings, on the top side, with a white diagonal stripe that separates the solid black and starts at the bottom of the butterflies wings, moving outward towards the top. Beneath these two symmetrical lines, you will find white spots that edge wings black border. In the middle of the wing at the top, there will be two more white dots. The underside of the Weidemeyer’s admiral Butterflies wings has a combination of white and brown segments that are bordered by black lines.
As caterpillars, these butterflies will resemble bird poop which can help them hide from predators passing by.
Length
The Weidemeyer’s admiral Butterfly will have a wingspan of around 2.25 to 3.75 inches in length.
Diet
As adult butterflies, Weidemeyer’s admiral will eat tree sap, flower nectar, or carrion which is a fancy term for dead animals. When they are in the larval stage of life, they will feed primarily on the leaves and foliage of aspen trees, willows, and cottonwoods.
Range
Weidemeyer’s admiral Butterflies live mostly in the western United States with some reaching parts of the Midwest as well parts of southern Canada. In the United States, you can find these butterflies in California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Denver, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and parts of Kansas and Texas.
As far as Canadian populations are concerned, these butterflies live primarily in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan close to the United States and Canadian border.
Protection
As of writing this, the Weidemeyer’s admiral Butterfly is not protected as their population is considered to be stable.
References Used
- Wikipedia – Limenitis weidemeyerii
- Butterflies and Moths – Limenitis weidemeyerii
- Montana Field Guide