Regional Butterfly and Moth Information
Top 20 Commonly Reported Butterflies and Moths of South Dakota
These are the most commonly reported butterflies and moths in South Dakota. If you do not see the species you found, look at all photographs submitted in South Dakota, or visit the South Dakota page to see recently submitted sightings.
Melissa Blue (includes Karner Blue)
Plebejus melissa
Painted Lady
Vanessa cardui
Clouded Sulphur
Colias philodice
Pearl Crescent
Phyciodes tharos
Cabbage White
Pieris rapae
Orange Sulphur
Colias eurytheme
Monarch
Danaus plexippus
Common Wood-Nymph
Cercyonis pegala
Regal Fritillary
Speyeria idalia
Red Admiral
Vanessa atalanta
Common Checkered-Skipper
Burnsius communis
Variegated Fritillary
Euptoieta claudia
Mourning Cloak
Nymphalis antiopa
Viceroy
Limenitis archippus
Bronze Copper
Lycaena hyllus
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Papilio glaucus
Tawny-edged Skipper
Polites themistocles
Common Ringlet
Coenonympha tullia
Great Spangled Fritillary
Speyeria cybele
Common Sootywing
Pholisora catullus
We can help identify your butterfly or moth!
If you know the date and location where the photograph was taken, we can help. It's simple!
A coordinator will review your submission, and you will get an email with the identification.
We will store your submitted data. Your submission will contribute to our species profiles, checklists, and database. You can track all your submissions and create a personal species list.
Identifying Caterpillars
Do you have a photograph of a caterpillar? If so, when you submit your photograph, please provide us with host plant information if possible. Consider raising it to the adult stage before submitting photographs.
Surprisingly, most of the larval stages of butterflies and moths are simply unknown, and caterpillar photographs can be very difficult to identify. It may take some time for a coordinator to identify your caterpillar.
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We depend on donations to keep Butterflies and Moths of North America freely available. We want to express our gratitude to all who showed their support by making a contribution this year. You can donate to support this project at any time.
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