Bug FAQWeidemeyer's Admiral
Limenitis weidemeyerii · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae
The Weidemeyer's admiral has black and white dorsal wings with rows of white spots, while the underside is brown with gray margins on the hindwing. It lives in western Canada, the northern Great Plains, and the western United States from the Rockies to the Sierra Nevada and California. Caterpillars feed on aspen, cottonwood, willows, oceanspray, and shadbush; adults sip tree sap, carrion, and flower nectar.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Dorsal wings are black and white with rows of white spots. Ventral side is brown with gray markings along the hindwing margins.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae eat leaves of aspen, cottonwood, willows, oceanspray, and shadbush.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Native to western Canada, the northern Great Plains, and the western United States, extending from the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra Nevada and California.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Can be confused with the white admiral (Limnitis arthemis) and Lorquin's admiral (Limnitis lorquini).
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 17 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Montana.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What do the caterpillars eat?
They feed on aspen, cottonwood, willows, oceanspray, and shadbush.
Source: Wikipedia
What do adult Weidemeyer's admirals drink?
Adults sip tree sap, carrion, and flower nectar.
Source: Wikipedia
Where can I find Weidemeyer's admiral?
In western Canada, the northern Great Plains, and the western United States from the Rockies to the Sierra Nevada and California.
Source: Wikipedia
What other butterflies look like this species?
It resembles the white admiral and Lorquin's admiral.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Nymphalidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limenitis_weidemeyerii
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.