List of Butterflies in South Carolina
The following list of butterflies are found in South Carolina. Clicking on the text link will show you a picture of the butterfly and which specific counties in South Carolina the butterfly is found in. Each link also provides more information about the butterfly’s identification and life history. This will help you decide which Butterfly Nectar Plants and Butterfly Host Plants you will want to plant when you create your butterfly garden. Simply find which butterflies are in your area, grow the plants the caterpillars like to eat, and plants that adult butterflies feed on! You can prolong the butterfly’s stay in your garden and draw in others by providing both the food and shelter they need.
Brush-footed Butterflies (Nymphalidae)
Longwings (Heliconiinae)
Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae)
Milkweed Butterflies (Danainae)
Queen (Danaus gilippus)
True Brushfoots (Nymphalinae)
Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
Parnassians and Swallowtails (Papilionidae)
Swallowtails (Papilioninae)
Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes)
Palamedes Swallowtail (Papilio palamedes)
Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)
Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)
Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)
Skippers (Hesperiidae)
Giant-Skippers (Megathyminae)
Cofaqui Giant-Skipper (Megathymus cofaqui)
Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae)
Spread-wing Skippers (Pyrginae)
Common Checkered-Skipper (Pyrgus communis)
Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus)
Confusing Cloudywing (Thorybes confusis)
Dreamy Duskywing (Erynnis icelus)
Golden Banded-Skipper (Autochton cellus)
Hayhurst’s Scallopwing (Staphylus hayhurstii)
Hoary Edge (Achalarus lyciades)
Horace’s Duskywing (Erynnis horatius)
Juvenal’s Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis)
Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus)
Mottled Duskywing (Erynnis martialis)
Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades)
Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)
Sleepy Duskywing (Erynnis brizo)
Southern Cloudywing (Thorybes bathyllus)
Tropical Checkered-Skipper (Pyrgus oileus)
Wild Indigo Duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae)
Zarucco Duskywing (Erynnis zarucco)
Courtesy of: Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. 2006.
Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Mountain Prairie Information Node.
Having discovered a fondness for insects while pursuing her degree in Biology, Randi Jones was quite bugged to know that people usually dismissed these little creatures as “creepy-crawlies”.
