Padre Island National Seashore - Insects, Spiders, Centipedes, Millipedes (U.S. National Park Service)

NPS Photo

A male Black Witch moth (Ascalapha odorata) found at the Malaquite Visitors Center in November 2004 by Mr. Peter Rochau.

Butterflies

The butterfly checklist below is current as of May 30, 2003 with 3 newly discovered species listed as nos. 40-42. Several species have been identified as new county records for Kleberg and Kenedy counties. Except as noted, each of the following butterfly species has been field identified and the park’s Resource Management division has a male and female of each species in its collection. Because field identification is sometimes difficult, a second source is verifying the identity of each species. Once the park’s butterfly study has been completed, a digital field guide of Padre Island butterflies will be available to the public. Note that the name of the park’s most common Buckeye (J. evarete) has been changed from Mangrove Buckeye (genoveva) to Tropical Buckeye (evarete) due to recent corrections in the taxonomic literature.

Scientific Name	Common Name
1. Erynnis horatius	Horaces Duskywing
2. Erynnis tristis	Mournful Duskywing
3. Hylephila phyleus	Fiery Skipper
4. Wallengrenia otho	Southern Broken Dash
5. Amblyscirtes celia	Celia's Roadside Skipper
6. Lerodea eufala	Eufala Skipper
7. Panoquina ocola	Ocola Skipper
8. Panoquina panaquinoides	Obscure Skipper
9. Battus philenor	Pipevine Swallowtail
10. Papilio polyxenes	Black Swallowtail
11. Heraclides cresphontes	Giant Swallowtail
12. Pontia protodice	Checkered White
13. Ascia monuste	Great Southern White
14. Colias eurytheme	Orange Sulfur
15. Zerene cesonia	Southern Dogface
16. Phoebis sennae	Cloudless Sulfur
17. Phoebis sennae marcellina (winter form)	Marcellina Cloudless
18. Phoebis agarithe	Large Orange Sulfur
19. Eurema lisa	Little Yellow
20. Nathalis iole	Dainty Sulfur
21. Ministrymon clytie	Clytie Ministreak
22. Calycopis isobeon	Dusky Blue Groundstreak
23. Strymon melinus	Gray Hairstreak
24. Strymon istapa	Istapa Hairstreak
25. Brephidium exile	W. Pygmy Blue
26. Leptotes marina	Marine Blue
27. Leptotes cassius	Cassius Blue
28. Hemiargus isola	Reakirts Blue
29. Libytheana carinenta	American Snout
30. Euptoitea claudia	Variegated Fritillary
31. Phyciodes phaon	Phaon Crescent
32. Phyciodes tharos	Pearl Crescent
33. Vanessa virginiensis	American Lady
34. Vanessa cardui	Painted Lady
35. Junonia coenia	Common Buckeye
36. Junonia evarete	Tropical Buckeye
37. Junonia nigrosuffusa	Dark Buckeye
38. Danaus plexippus	Monarch
39. Danaus gilippus	Queen
40. Urbanus dorantes	Dorantes Longtail Skipper
41. Phoebis philea	Orange Barred Sulfur
42. Agraulis vanillae	Gulf Fritillary
Moths
The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center of the US Geological Survey reports the following moths for each of the following counties, across which Padre Island National Seashore extends. Most do not have a common name. The names of those that do are noted.

Kleberg Co.

1. Eupackardia calleta	Calleta silkmoth
2. Antheraea polyphemus	Polyphemus moth
3. Utetheisa ornatrix (includes U. bella)	Bella moth
4. Cycnia collaris
5. Ectypia bivittata
6. Ctenucha venosa
7. Cisseps fulvicollis (includes C packardii and C. Wrightii)	Yellow-collared scape moth
8. Horama panthalon	Texas wasp moth
9. Schinia snowii
10. Schinia citrinella
11. Schinia felicitata
12. Schinia gracilienta
13. Schinia bicuspida
14. Schinia volupia
15. Schinia regia

Kenedy Co.

1. Antheraea polyphemus	Polyphemus moth
2. Ceratomia undulosa	Waved sphinx
3. Xylophanes tersa	Tersa sphinx
4. Datana diffidens

Willacy Co.

1. Eupackardia calleta	Calleta silkmoth
2. Pachylia ficus	Fig sphinx
3. Utetheisa ornatrix (includes U. bella)	Bella moth
4. Lophocampa annulosa
5. Euchaetes bolteri
6. Schinia gaurae
7. Schinia ultima

Two moths that are not listed above, but which have been found in the park are (follow the links to photos of each):

salt marsh moth - Estigmene acrea

white-tipped black moth - Melanchroia chephise

For more information on butterflies and moths in south Texas, please follow either of the two links below.

University of Texas

Butterflies and Moths.org