Wyoming Butterflies: Pictures and Butterfly Identification Help

Thanks for visiting Wyoming buterflies.

Despite the more northern climate, Wyoming geography, especially the presence of the Rocky Mountains, makes it a fairly good state for butterfly diversity. Visitors can come away with many picture memories by keeping an eye on the flowers around them.

Yellowstone National Park, for example has 134 documented species. Anyone planning a Fourth of July visit to the park might want to check out the annual butterfly count.

The number of species documented year to year changes depending on weather conditions and flight seasons for butterfly seasons. Anywhere between thirty five and sixty some species can be found in the park during the summer season.

This introduction to Wyoming butterflies provides a list of the documented species in the state along with a handful of butterfly pictures.

Please press the green butterflies button for additional pictures and information.

Butterflies: Whites and Yellows

Diversity in Pieridae species is a treat that all Wyoming visitors ought not miss. The family breaks down into the butterflies with white wings and yellow wings. Most states have more of the yellow butterfly species.

The picture shows a Western White butterfly. It’s common in all of Wyoming.

The Orangetips are usually spring flyers that can be found in all elevations. Tourists need to remember that spring comes later to the mountains than to the valleys so the Orangetips arrive in the mountains in midseason.

The Olympia Marble is common in the East, so visitors might want to keep and eye out for the Large Marble. It’s the most common marble species and has a state wide range.

Tourists interested in adding a new yellow butterfly to the list might want to visit the mountains where the Mead’s Sulphur shows itself in a subalpine environment.

The picture shows a Clouded Sulphur, a common species across the fields of the United States.

Blues, Hairtreaks and Coppers

The Wyoming butterflies list also shows a nice balance as well as great diversity of blue butterflies, hairstreak butterflies and copper butterflies.

Hairstreak butterflies are very popular in the state. The green Sheridan’s hairstreak (Callophrys sheridanii) is the official Wyoming butterfly.

The picture shows a Behr’s Hairstreak a resident of places in the state where a few of the members of the Rose family grow. The list of Hairstreak butterflies is similar to other Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States.

Many of the blue butterflies of the state are also common in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast areas. The picture shows a par of Boisduval Blue.

Brush Footed Butterflies

Fritillary butterflies account for approximately one quarter of Wyoming’s Brush Footed butterfly species. The picture shows a Silver Bordered Fritillary.

Out of state tourists might also want to keep an out out for the Arctic butterflies. Different species fly throughout the season and they are not present in most of the Midwest, Northeast and Southern states. Great gets for the butterfly life list.

The pictures provide a representative sample of Wyoming’s brush-footed butterflies. Please press the butterfly button at the top of the page for additional butterfly pictures and identification help.

Wyoming Butterflies: Swallowtails

Wyoming butterflies also count over a dozen of the large Swallowtail butterflies.

The Canadian Tiger Swallowtail has the most limited range in the northwest corner of the state. Otherwise the other species have a broad, although no often a state wide range. In any event, Wyoming surely is swallowtail butterfly country.

That’s good news for tourists. They often live around residential areas, so visitors can often see them around their hotels as well as around the tourist attractions. The picture shows an Indra Swallowtail butterfly.

• Clodius Parnassian
• Rocky Mountain Parnassian
• Old World Swallowtail
• Black Swallowtail
• Anise Swallowtail
• Indra Swallowtail
• Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
• Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
• Western Tiger Swallowtail
• Pale Swallowtail
• Two-tailed Swallowtail
• Giant Swallowtail

Butterflies: Metalmarks

Last, but not least of the Wyoming butterflies is the Mormon Metalmark. Most metalmarks are subtropical species. Only the Mormon metalmark makes its way as far north as the state.