Southern Cloudywing - Alabama Butterfly Atlas

Southern Cloudywing (Thorybes bathyllus)

Butterfly: Wingspan: 1¼ - 1¾ inches (3.3 - 5.0 cm). UPPER SURFACE (dorsal) is brown with several whitish hyaline (glassy) spots on forewing's outer half. These spots are aligned. Checkered wing fringe is whitish or buffy. Antennal club has a white spot at bend. Hindwing is slightly tapered toward the bottom. UNDER SURFACE (ventral) is brown with two parallel dark brown bands crossing the central portion of the hindwing. Hindwing outer margin is weakly frosted. Palps (the "face") are white. White rim encircles eye.

Egg: A pale, partial sphere that may appear greenish or white with vertical ridges and many cross-striations. Laid singly on host leaf, usually on the underside or on very new growth.

Caterpillar: Pale green in early instars. Later instars light brown with a pale-yellow stripe running along each side and a faint brown stripe running the top length of the body. Body covered with short hairs, many of which originate in tiny cream-colored bumps. Head dark brown, deeply cleft, and covered with very short yellowish hairs. Lacks facial spots. Collar dark brown. Front three pairs of legs (thoracic) are dark brown. Mature caterpillars over-winter.

Chrysalis: Moss-brown with dark markings or dull brown. Wing cases lighter. Abdominal segments appear striated.

Butterfly ID Thumbnail — Get Identification Help

Southern Cloudywing is a medium-sized brown skipper best known as one of a trio of very similar species: Southern, Northern, and Confused Cloudywing. Together they are an identification nightmare. Although differences do exist, the issue is complicated by the fact that there are significant individual and seasonal variations within each species. Southern Cloudywing is the most strongly marked of the three, but its spring brood is more faintly patterned, causing it to more closely resemble the other two. All three species occur in similar habitats and often fly together. For more specific information about how to identify Southern Cloudywing, click on the "Get Identification Help" link above.

Male Southern Cloudywings are extremely territorial. They choose a perching spot on low vegetation and often use it for several days. When intruders enter their territory, they dart out aggressively to investigate before returning to their chosen perch. Males frequently gather at dirt roads and stream banks to gather nutrients from damp soil.

Females deposit single eggs on a chosen host plant, usually on the underside of a leaf. Both native and introduced legume species are utilized. Caterpillars construct a leaf shelter by silking host leaves together. Fully grown larvae overwinter within the leaf litter and pupate the following spring.

Southern Cloudywings occur throughout much of the eastern United States.

A dot on the county map indicates that there is at least one documented record of the species within that county. In some cases, a species may be common throughout the county, in others it may be found in only a specific habitat. The High Count information shows the highest numbers recorded for this species as well as when and where they occurred.

The sightings bar graphs depict the timing of flight(s) within each of three geographic regions. Place your cursor on a bar within the graph to see the number of individuals recorded during that period.

The abundance calendar displays the total number of individuals recorded within each week of the month. Both the graphs and the calendar are on based data collection that began in 2000.

The records analyzed here are only a beginning. As more data is collected, these maps and graphs will paint a more accurate picture of distribution and abundance in Alabama. Submit your sightings to albutterflyatlas@gmail.com.

Sightings in the following counties: Baldwin, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Clarke, Clay, Cleburne, Colbert, Covington, Dallas, DeKalb, Elmore, Escambia, Hale, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lee, Limestone, Macon, Madison, Marengo, Marion, Perry, Pickens, Shelby, St. Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Washington, Wilcox, Winston

Sightings in the past 5 years
Sightings in the past 5 - 10 years
Sightings more than 10 years ago

High count(s):

36 - Cleburne - 8/2/2021
36 - Cleburne - 7/16/2020
20 - Cleburne - 7/24/2018

View county names by moving the mouse over a county or view a map with county names

Jan				Feb				Mar				Apr				May				Jun				Jul				Aug				Sep				Oct				Nov				Dec
1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4
									3	3	25	20	24	27	33	48	93	37	29	38	13	10	33	32	69	123	156	74	47	27	41	11	19		1		4

Forest edges, disturbed sites, utility line right-of-ways, roadsides, old fields, suburban flower gardens, dry meadows, and burned-over open areas.

Reports from nearby states list various legumes including clovers (Trifolium spp.), lespedezas (Lespedeza spp.), tick trefoils (Desmodium sp.), milkvetches (Astragulus spp), fuzzybeans (Strophostyles spp.), wild beans (Glycine spp.), and Butterfly Pea (Clitoria mariana).

In Alabama, these host plants have been documented:

For more information about these plants, please visit the Alabama Plant Atlas using the links above.

Provide a variety of garden worthy, nectar-rich flowers to attract Southern Cloudywings and other butterflies. Like many skippers, Southern Cloudywings usually nectar from pink, blue, purple, or white flowers. Good choices include Purple Coneflower and other coneflowers, phloxes, mountain mints, Common Buttonbush, Joe Pye weeds, gayfeathers/blazing stars, Mistflower, ironweeds, and asters.

Southern Cloudywing (Thorybes bathyllus) Photos

Click on individual photos to view a larger version that includes photo credits, county, and date.
Photos with comments are indicated by a small, tan dot on the bottom right.