Pictured here is an example of the Phaon Crescent butterfly (Phyciodes phaon) feeding on one of its favorite plants Texas Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora). These pictures were taken in Fort Worth, Texas in 2011. Phaon Crescents belong to the True Brushfoot butterfly family Nymphalidae. These butterflies like open habitat with low vegetation in forested country. Along the rear edge of the hindwing you can see the v-shaped white markings that are the crescents for which this species is named. I find the markings on their antennae interesting too.

The above image shows the cream colored underside of the hindwing which confirms this butterfly as a Phaon Crescent. Notice the cream-colored band that is also an identification character shows through to the underside of the fore-wing. The two black eyespots on the hindwing surrounded by rings make this butterfly a male. Female Phaon Crescents have smaller eyespots and lack the ring around them. These butterflies range from Guatemala, Cuba, and Mexico into the southern US Gulf States, as far west as California, and north as far as Missouri and South Carolina.

For more information on this species you might like to visit the Butterflies and Moths of North America website or the Butterflies of America website.

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