New Jersey Butterfly Club

Georgia Satyr

Neonympha areolata

Identification: Small—1.6”. Almost never seen with wings open. Below: FW and HW brown, with two small, faint eyespots on the FW and several prominent, yellow-ringed, asymmetrical eyespots on the HW. The HW eyespots are enclosed within a rust-colored line forming an oval.

NJ Status and Distribution: Resident. Classified as Special Concern in NJ. Rare and local. Pine Barrens bogs in Ocean and Burlington counties support a population disjunct from the species’ main stronghold in the Southeast. The taxonomy of Georgia Satyr is unsettled, and the NJ population may be a different subspecies or even species than the population in the southeastern states.

Habitat: Herbaceous wetlands dominated by grasses and sedges.

Flight Period: One brood that flies from late June to mid-July, but in at least some years (e.g., 2016) two broods are produced—the second from August into September. Extreme dates: 6/4—9/7.

Caterpillar Food Plants: Probably obligate wetland sedges, however the species or even genus/genera of host plants has not been conclusively established. Oviposition has been observed on Large Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon).

Overwintering Stage: Caterpillar.

Good Locations: Specific locations are not being disclosed because this species is a target of collectors.

Comments: Special effort must be made to see this beauty of our pine-barrens bogs. The few known locations of this species probably reflect lack of searching in abandoned cranberry bogs.