Checklist of Butterflies of Newfoundland and Labrador

Remarkably, there appears to be no up-to-date comprehensive list of butterflies of Newfoundland and Labrador. I set out to do that over the past month... and there are some surprises!

There does exist a list from 1971 published in The Osprey Vol 2, Num 2 which included 39 species for the island of Newfoundland. It was compiled by Ray F. Morris.

Subsequently, the same author published a book entitled: Butterflies and Moths of Newfoundland and Labrador published in 1980. This book included 55 species of butterflies from across the province and provided incredible detail on their historical records, status at that time, and ecology.

I have compiled all the details in those two sources, with more recent publications including the Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America (published 2003), and The Butterflies of Canada (published 1998) by Ross Layberry et al. Further, I have cross-referenced these references with current online resources including iNaturalist (2000+ butterfly photos from the province), BAMONA, eButterfly (927 observations), and other random resources such as the MUN Botanical Gardens list.

The next step is to share the list with any willing locals and butterfly experts who can help fine tune the details in the list. I'm hoping that that is you!

Arctic Blue 

Perhaps the only species that is common and widespread throughout the entire region of Newfoundland and Labrador from Cape Pine to Cape Chidley.

The result so far is a list of 60 species for the province. Of which 47 species have been documented in Labrador, and 48 in Newfoundland.

Two of NF's species are migrants (i.e. likely don't breed here): Question Mark, and Monarch. There are no Labrador records for either of these migrants.

Two of NF's species are introduced from Europe: European Skipper, and Cabbage White. Considering how abundant both these species are in NF and surrounding regions, it is surprising that there are no records of European Skipper and only one specimen of Cabbage White from Labrador. 

That leaves 44 species that are native to Newfoundland, and 46 species native to Labrador. That's the first big surprise: I would have never guessed that Labrador has more native species!

What is fascinating, is that several of these species are found in very Northerly ranges that don't come close to the island of Newfoundland - kind of like the Ivory Gulls and Gyrfalcons of the butterfly world. Not surprisingly, very little information is available on these more northerly species.

The complete list can be found HERE. I have also pasted the list of species below - but do check the spreadsheet for extra notes on Status/Abundance/Range/Notes.

	Genus & Species	Common name
1	Papilio brevicauda	Short-tailed Swallowtail
2	Papilio canadensis	Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
3	Hesperia comma	Common Branded Skipper
4	Polites peckius	Peck's Skipper
5	Polites themistocles	Tawny-edged Skipper
6	Ancyloxypha numitor	Least Skipper
7	Thymelicus lineola	European Skipper
8	Carterocephalus mandan	Arctic Skipper
9	Erynnis icelus	Dreamy Duskywing
10	Pyrgus centaureae	Northern Grizzled Skipper
11	Limenitis arthemis arthemis	White Admiral
12	Phyciodes cocyta	Northern Crescent
13	Vanessa cardui	Painted Lady
14	Vanessa virginiensis	American Lady
15	Vanessa atalanta	Red Admiral
16	Nymphalis l-album	Compton Tortoiseshell
17	Nymphalis antiopa	Mourning Cloak
18	Polygonia gracilis	Hoary Comma
19	Polygonia comma	Eastern Comma
20	Polygonia satyrus	Satyr Comma
21	Polygonia interrogationis	Question Mark
22	Polygonia progne	Gray Comma
23	Polygonia faunus	Green Comma
24	Aglais milberti	Milbert's Tortoiseshell
25	Cercyonis pegala	Common Wood-Nymph
26	Coenonympha california	Common Ringlet
27	Oeneis jutta	Jutta Arctic
28	Oeneis bore	White-veined Arctic
29	Oeneis melissa	Melissa Arctic
30	Oeneis polixenes	Polixenes Arctic
31	Erebia rossii	Ross' Alpine
32	Erebia mancinus	Taiga Alpine
33	Argynnis atlantis	Atlantis Fritillary
34	Boloria eunomia	Bog Fritillary
35	Boloria myrina	Silver-bordered Fritillary
36	Boloria chariclea	Arctic Fritillary
37	Boloria freija	Freija Fritillary
38	Boloria frigga	Frigga Fritillary
39	Boloria polaris	Polaris Fritillary
40	Boloria bellona	Meadow Fritillary
41	Danaus plexippus	Monarch
42	Callophrys augustinus	Brown Elfin
43	Tharsalea epixanthe	Bog Copper
44	Tharsalea dorcas	Dorcas Copper
45	Lycaena phlaeas	American Copper
46	Celastrina lucia	Northern Azure
47	Glaucopsyche lygdamus	Silvery Blue
48	Agriades glandon	Arctic Blue
49	Icaricia saepiolus	Greenish Blue
50	Plebejus idas	Northern Blue
51	Colias interior	Pink-edged Sulphur
52	Colias hecla	Hecla Sulphur
53	Colias nastes	Labrador/Nastes Sulphur
54	Colias palaeno	Palaeno Sulphur
55	Colias pelidne	Pelidne Sulphur
56	Colias philodice	Clouded Sulphur
57	Colias eurytheme	Orange Sulphur
58	Pieris oleracea	Mustard White
59	Pieris rapae	Cabbage White
60	Pontia protodice	Checkered White

The list included in the spreadsheet provides details on:

• Which region each species has been observed in (Nfld vs Lab)
• How abundant each species is: common, uncommon, vs rare
• Very subjective criteria used and likely inaccurate for many species due to the limited information available
• Where within those regions the species can be found
• Widespread vs localized with additional details where relevant
• Tidbits of interest such as:
• Endemic status
• Prior naming conventions - there have been many changes over the years
• Other random notes

If time permits, it would be ideal to include notes on flight seasons, and habitat. Volunteers accepted!

Notable are that many species of butterflies are divided into various sub-species across their entire range. There are three that are considered to be endemic, or near-endemic to the island of Newfoundland:

• Short-tailed Swallowtail (ssp. brevicauda)
• Jutta Arctic (ssp. terra-novae)
• Silver-bordered Frtilliary (ssp. terraenovae)

Endemics are a topic for another discussion.

Short-tailed Swallowtail - a Newfoundland specialty. 

Abundant in coastal areas across our island, and beyond that it is restricted in range to coastal areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

There are an additional eight species that were found on various lists of butterflies of NL. However, these were deemed to not have enough evidence to be included in this list. Most come from the 1980 Butterflies and Moths of NL book and the author at that time was already doubtful about the presence of most these species. Those eight species are listed here - more details can be found in the second tab of the spreadsheet listed above.

Papilio polyxenes	Black Swallowtail
Papilio glaucus	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Phyciodes tharos	Pearl Crescent
Chlosyne harrisii	Harris's Checkerspot
Oeneis chryxus	Chryxus Arctic
Erebia disa	Arctic Ringlet/Disa Alpine
Callophrys polios	Hoary Elfin
Callophrys niphon	Eastern Pine Elfin

Finally, Phillip G. deMaynadier et al. recently published an amazing book on the Butterflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces in 2023. I highly recommend the book for anyone in NL who is interested in butterflies, despite it not including our province at all. Based on the abundance and distribution of butterflies published in this book, here is a short list of species that should probably be looked for in our province - particularly in the Codroy Valley region.

Thorybes pylades	Northern Cloudywing
Euphyes vestris	Dun Skipper
Polites mystic	Long Dash
Lon hobomok	Hobomok Skipper
Lycaena phlaeas	American Copper * One record in the Codroy!
Tharsalea hyllus	Bronze Copper
Argynnis cybele	Great Spangled Fritillary
Limenitis archippus	Viceroy
Euphydryas phaeton	Baltimore Checkerspot
Lethe anthedon	Northern Pearly-eye
Lethe eurydice	Eyed Brown

Please feel free to share your thoughts. I am by no means an expert on the butterflies of Newfoundland and Labrador - I have never even seen a butterfly in Labrador! If you have any suggestions or edits please feel free to share them.

Brown Elfin

Particularly fond of blueberry and labrador tea plants

- Alvan