Mourning Cloak

Mourning Cloak or Nymphalis antiopa is a butterfly with no similar species. They feed on sap, rotting fruits and flower nectars, they live in open areas, the woods and small water areas. They mate in the spring and the eggs are laid on twigs of their plant host, then the adults die. the caterpillars hatch and eat the host plant, when they are ready to turn to butterflies they cocoon and when they emerge with a wingspan of 2 1/4 to 4 inches. They then fly south for the fall and then the pattern repeats again. They can be found anywhere between the Tundra and central Mexico.

References

Image only- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphalis_antiopa

http://www.chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/winter2002/mourning.html

http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/lepidopt/nymph/mcloak.htm

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Nymphalis-antiopa