Buckeyes (Junonia)
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Three Junonia species, collectively called buckeyes, call North America home.
The Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) deserves its name because with the exception of some areas in the extreme Pacific Northwest, it ranges across much of North America.
The brown wings with colorful eye spots make it a fairly easy butterfly to identify.
Caterpillars feed on a variety of snapdragons, plantains and wild petunias.
Two other, less common Junonia species, the Mangrove Buckeye, Florida resident, and the Tropical Buckeye, a Southwest resident, round out the Junonia genus in the United States.
The Mangrove Buckeye (Junonia genoveva) has the smallest range of the three.
Their caterpillars eat the leaves of Black Mangrove trees, a staple along Florida coastal areas.
Since Black Mangroves are also found along much of the coastal areas of the Gulf Coast, a changing climate could potentially spur migration of the Mangrove Buckeye to those areas.
© 2007-2011 Patricia A. Michaels