New Jersey Butterfly Club

Appalachian Brown

Saytrodes appalachia

Identification: Small—1.9". Above: FW and HW light brown with paler patches on the outer portion of the FW, a row of small submarginal eyespots on the FW, and a row of larger submarginal eyespots on the HW. Below: FW and HW light brown, with a row of bold, yellow-ringed black eyespots on both wings. Narrow, brown line crossing middle of HW is relatively smoothly curved (compared to more jagged line on Eyed Brown), and inner brown line is straighter than on Eyed Brown and lacks the inward-pointing notch. Differs from Northern Pearly Eye in being having much smaller eyespots below.

NJ Status and Distribution: Resident. Generally fairly common and widespread throughout.

Habitat: Moist to wet grassy and sedgy areas in and near wet woodlands.

Flight Period: One brood in NJ. Late May to mid-September. Extreme dates: North Jersey 5/22—9/26; South Jersey 5/20—10/4.

Caterpillar Food Plants: Mainly wetland sedges (Carex).

Overwintering Stage: Caterpillar.

Good Locations: Great Swamp NWR, Adiguzelli Tract (Fredon Twp., Sussex Co.), Hunterdon Arboretum, Jamesburg Park Conservation Area, Chestnut Branch Park (Mantua, Gloucester Co.), Tarkiln Bogs (Cape May Co.).

Comments: Best seen while walking through thick herbaceous wetlands or along the edges of wet woods and following the flight of flushed individuals to their next landing spot. Does not land on trees as does Pearly Eye. In Sussex County, where both species of brown are known to occur, individuals seen in wet woods are almost certainly Appalachian; those seen in the middle of large, wet meadows are probably Eyed; while those seen where wet woods and meadows overlap could be either species. Given the overlap in habitat and spatial and temporal distribution it would not be surprising if occasional hybridization occurs, resulting in some individuals displaying characteristics of both species.