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This is usually a pretty rare species in my area. The last couple of years though, there have been a few reported sightings. This summer, I found some larvae and reared a small series of specimens on Urtica dioica. Here is an ex pupa pair, male on the left and female on the right.

This is a very nice species and reminds me my youth times back in Poland where A.urticae was very common.
I only saw one butterfly of this species near Kitchener, Ontario in 2015 and collected one 100km north of Perry Sound in 2021.
Also I collected two specimens in Kananaskis (Rocky mountains) in Alberta where I suppose it is more common than here in Ontario.

A stunning butterfly to see in the wild. Photos doesn’t do justice to the deep colors. I recall seeing many of them one late Spring / early summer in the Cascades. A memorable experience where I told myself that I must return to collect a few and never did. Surprisingly, I still don’t have this butterfly in my collection. Great pair you have there!

Lovely specimens. Strange that this species should be rare in North America but its close relative N urticae is relatively common here in the U.K. & the rest of Europe. Though the extreme heat here in the U.K. during the summer drastically reduced the numbers in my part of the country compared with last year. I did see N milberti on the wing in New Mexico in 2016. Just one. Lovely species.

In Upstate NY milberti is uncommon, being localized. If you find one, there will be more in the area, though I only find a colony once a decade or so.

If you look at the map you can see milberti has some higher concentration areas, but is spotty. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/68269-Aglais-milberti

@eurytides those are nice specimens; the wild milberti are often beat up.

I caught one single male in the Whistler area in BC, Canada, a few years back. It was missing a large part of its right hindwing if i dont remember wrong. I dont have a picture at hand though.

The issue is they are suuuuuper localized and the populations cycle through booms and busts. I found thousands of larvae this summer in a patch of nettle. If you walk 50 m in either direction, you find zero. Not few, zero larvae. The females dump all or most of their eggs in one shot, so in a large area, you have to be lucky and find the one or two plants that were used. Most years, there are no reports of this species in my area.

This is indeed a "dandy" of a species !

I believe in my home state (Illinois) the only real chance of encountering this species is if one lives in the far northern border counties of Illinois/Wisconsin.

I was in Central Wisconsin some years ago and managed to wild collect two or three decent specimens (which are still in papers). I will work them up this winter and post them. As has been mentioned, these are pretty tough to find any decent specimens of in nature. When I did encounter them it was a localized population and I was lucky to get the two or three good ones that I did. The rest were all worn pretty badly !

Gosh eurytides, you really had me fooled thinking that you're only interest was in Papilionidae !!

Amazing that you have bred so many different things.

Good looking specimens throughout your posts....

Thanks Trehopr1. I like all kinds of stuff really. I almost never raise the same species twice. I raise a series and then move on to learn about something else. Every year, I try to raise 1-2 different species, but each caterpillar is raised individually and I record dates of all molts, pupation, diapause, eclosion, food plant…etc. I don’t have a big collection, but almost everything I have is ex ova or ex larvae and local species. I will try to post most often now that I have figured out the picture posting method.

Fantastic

Great to hear that you keep such accurate/interesting species notes for each species you dabble with. It really adds so much more to the value of each specimen.

I very much look forward to seeing more of your wonderful handiwork (setting) and of hearing more of your insights of the species you encounter !

Thank you. For me, collecting is not just about beauty or science. Each specimen gives me a connection to the past. Each ones holds for me some memory of a trip or adventure. When I look at any species in my collection, I can tell you a story. In the next 30 min, I will post a couple more species.

In years past I used to occasionally see milberti, but have not seen one in my travels around Southern and Central Ontario for years. But in July of 2019 while visiting a friend, we were walking his property just west of Guelph when we found a mass of tiny larvae on a stinging nettle. Had to be either red admiral or milberts. I took them home and reared them, and they were in fact milberti. I get 70 into chrysalid, but sadly only about 10 emerged, all the rest died .

I am surprised you had such a high mortality rate. I have raised Vanessa atalanta before and they are not gregarious. You find single eggs on the leaves.

I have had great luck with Vanessa Atalanta as well, they seemed to actually multiply. I would go and get more nettle and a couple of days later there were more larvae, guess there must have been ova on the nettle I harvested. Got 100% success with these.

But on the milberti, all I can think of is I crowded them, maybe got a disease as they pupated. Had about 100 of them in a single fairly large container, thought when most all pupated I was home free, but not there case.