Sleepy Orange (Abaeis nicippe)

[Trehopr1]

Another small pierid of extraordinary bold coloration
which may be found in the far southern (1/4) of our
Illinois counties is the Sleepy Orange (Abaeis nicippe).

It is but, one of our locally encountered migrant species.
It is thought that Illinois winters are too cold for the
species to survive; thus it must recolonize the state each
year from the south.

Another tough one which I have never encountered....
Yet, my friend in central Illinois has had his share of good
fortune finding it !

[daveuk]

I encountered this species in New Mexico back in 2016 Trehopr. From memory it wasn't that common there & I only saw a couple of individuals. A very colourful little butterfly.

[58chevy]

There are two forms of this butterfly, the "bright" form and the "dusky" form. Here is a side-by side comparison. These specimens are not top quality, but the species is fairly common in my area.

[Trehopr1]

Very interesting. I guess my friend has only been able to find the "bright form" in the places where he has found the species.

Wish I could find that wonderful species where I live.

[MikeH]

The bright form is the male and dusky form the female. Generally these spread north through Colorado east of the continental divide and can be regular at some spots along with Eurema mexicana. One year was extra big where they seemed everywhere on both sides of the divide.

[58chevy]

Thanks for the clarification, MikeH. I suspected the "dusky" form might be the female, but I've seen so many more "bright" forms that it didn't make sense to me that there were so few females. We also get E. mexicana, but it's a 4-hour drive from my house.