Pearl crescent
Phyciodes tharos
Butterfly
The pearl crescent is a small orange-and-black brushfoot whose caterpillars feed almost exclusively on the foliage of native asters (Asteraceae), mainly Symphyotrichum species. Females lay eggs in clusters on the undersides of aster leaves, and the species produces multiple broods per year, so larvae can be present through much of the growing season. Adults are generalist nectar feeders on low composites and other open flowers.
Plants in the catalog
Larval host plants · 4
Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) is a native Symphyotrichum; pearl crescent hosts on Symphyotrichum at genus level (BAMONA), no species-specific citation.
BAMONA documents Phyciodes tharos larvae on Symphyotrichum asters including New England aster (S. novae-angliae).
Smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve, syn. Aster laevis) is named among the aster larval hosts of Phyciodes tharos.
White wood aster (Eurybia divaricata) is a documented Phyciodes tharos larval host; kept conservative as plausible since the genus differs from the chiefly-cited Symphyotrichum.
Nectar plants · 3
NABA / Alabama Butterfly Atlas list black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) as an adult nectar source for Phyciodes tharos.
Goldenrods (Solidago) are documented pearl crescent fall nectar sources; Canada goldenrod is Solidago canadensis.
NABA / Alabama Butterfly Atlas list purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) as an adult pearl crescent nectar plant.
Range
Widespread across North America east of the Rocky Mountains, from southern Canada south to Mexico, and into parts of the Intermountain West.