A colorful, recognizable butterfly known for the eye spots on its wings. The wings of the adults are brown with a pair of eye spots on each wing. The forewings also have 2 orange cell bars and white bands. Buckeye caterpillars have a complex pattern. They are mostly black and their sides have white markings and red-orange spots. They have spines running lengthwise along their back and sides.
Caterpillars feed on a variety of plants including the narrowleaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata), the common greater plantain (Plantago major), blue toadflax, false foxglove, Mexican petunia (Ruellia species), the firecracker plant, and Cudweed. Adults feed on nectar from composite flowers including aster, chickory, gumweed, knapweed, and tickseed sunflower.
Males perch during the day on low plants or bare ground to watch for females, flying periodically to patrol or to chase other flying insects. Females lay eggs singly on leaf buds or on upperside of host plant leaves. Common buckeye caterpillars feed in isolation rather than relying upon grouping behaviors. Caterpillars and adults overwinter but only in the south.
Least Concern
