
I was out in the garden the other day and saw this lovely butterfly. I can’t recall ever seeing one like it. I thought it might be an Eastern Comma butterfly, but I asked naturalist Miles Hearn if he was familiar with this one and he suggested it might be the Question Mark butterfly.
I looked it up. The Question Mark is olygonia interrogationis. Apparently the underside of the wings provides camouflage protection, making it look like a dead leaf. On the underside of the hind wings, there are silver markings which resemble question marks, hence the common name.
Great observation! First time for me. Love the markings!