The Hoary Comma is a species of butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

, common in boreal

Boreal ecosystem

The term boreal is usually applied to ecosystems localized in subarctic and subantarctic zones, although Austral is also used for the latter....

 North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 from Alaska, across southern Canada to New England and the Maritime Provinces and south to New Mexico from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The wings have a distinctive ragged edge.

Adult butterflies feed on tree sap and nectar from flowers. Caterpillars feed on shrub leaves including currant, western azalea and mock azalea.

The species survives the winter in the adult stage in diapause

Diapause

Diapause is the delay in development in response to regularly and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions. It is considered to be a physiological state of dormancy with very specific initiating and inhibiting conditions...

 and mate and lay eggs in the spring. Butterflies emerge from their chrysalids in midsummer.

External links

• Hoary Comma, Butterflies of Canada