Question mark butterfly Polygonia interrogationis

The question mark butterfly is found in all of Ohio's eighty-eight counties and is the most common of the Polygonia species in Ohio. It is a member of the Nymphalidae (brushfooted) family. Although it usually lives in open areas next to forests, it may also live in urban parks and yards from April through November. It can be identified by the small mark, similar to a question mark, on the underside of its wing. This species has a wingspan of 2.25 to 3 inches (5.7 to 7.6 cm). The first two images show the top of the butterfly's wing. The third image shows the bottom of the wing, including the identifying question mark. In Ohio there are more than 150 species of butterflies. Twenty-seven different species of butterflies representing five families can be found in the Ohio Memory Online Scrapbook, including all seven species of butterflies that are listed as endangered in Ohio. Butterflies are a part of the order Lepidoptera (from the Greek words lepis, which means scale and pteron, which means wing). There are nearly 17,500 species of butterflies world-wide. Approximately 750 of these can be found in North America