American Snout - Alabama Butterfly Atlas

Butterfly: Wingspan: 1¼ - 2 inches (3.5 - 5 cm). Upperside is brown; forewing has orange at base and inner margin, and white spots on outer half. Underside of hindwing is mottled or smooth violet-gray. The palps that form the snout are long and extended forward. The forewing tip is squared off. This is the overwintering stage.

ID Tip: Look for elongated ”snout” or palps and squared forewing tips.

Egg: Tiny, white, and round. Laid singly on host, often on new leaf tips.

Caterpillar: Light green "worm" with numerous small yellow dots and a yellow lateral stripe. Two small black dots located below the head look like eyes, enabling this caterpillar to mimic a small snake. It heightens the effect by arching its body and tucking its head when alarmed.

Chrysalis: Green. Often suspended from the underside of a hackberry leaf where it is highly camouflaged due to coloration and pattern.

Butterfly ID Thumbnail — Get Identification Help

No other butterfly has a “snout” like this one. The adaptive purpose of its remarkable elongated snout (or “palps”) has long been questioned. Perhaps it simply enables the butterfly to impersonate a dry leaf, complete with upturned stem or petiole. The effect is enhanced by the forward placement of the antennae. Snouts are so cryptically colored and shaped that they may be missed by butterfly enthusiasts.

In addition to camouflage, Snouts use startle tactics to aid in defense against vertebrate predators. Perched Snouts may resemble dried leaves but by quickly raising their forewings, the butterflies flash attackers with a startling flash of orange.

Late fall adults enter diapause during winter months and resume activity the following spring--as early as mid-February in some parts of Alabama. American Snouts are expected to occur in every county in our state.

Snouts are often seen flying around hackberry trees, their host plant. They are occasionally encountered nectaring from flowers, and they avidly seek salts and minerals by puddling. They also often seek these substances on perspiring skin!

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: Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Cleburne, Coffee, Colbert, Coosa, Covington, Dale, Dallas, DeKalb, Elmore, Escambia, Etowah, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Hale, Houston, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lee, Limestone, Lowndes, Macon, Madison, Marengo, Marion, Marshall, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Russell, Shelby, St. Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, 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):

100 - Baldwin - 5/8/2016
65 - Baldwin - 8/13/2019
42 - Perry - 9/7/2009

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
		1	9	10	22	20	70	109	66	67	77	22	50	75	175	100	204	70	98	115	68	97	90	104	49	69	109	27	97	33	31	72	16	31	12	11	9	5	12	13	8	7	3	14			2

Deciduous woodlands and woodland edges.

Various hackberries (Celtis spp.) are used throughout its range.

Sugarberry/Southern Hackberry (Celtis laevigata) - Host Plant

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

Including hackberry trees in the landscape provides caterpillar food for at least 6 butterfly species, including American Snout.

American Snout (Libytheana carinenta) 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.