Gray Comma
Polygonia progne
Description 1 5/8-1 7/8" (41-48 mm). Wing margins ragged. 2 seasonal forms: fall and spring brood tawny-orange above with yellow-spotted dark borders and relatively little black spotting. Summer butterflies have very dark chocolate-brown HW, above with tawny-base, yellow spots, and heavier black spotting. Gray-brown beneath, more uniform but heavily striated in summer, more 2-toned in fall-spring. Silver comma on HW below L-shaped, 1 arm shorter in summer form; both arms tapering to points.
Similar Species Roughly similar to all other anglewings. Faunus has green sheen and clubbed comma. Question Mark has purple tails, which dark form Gray Comma lacks. Dark form Comma is brown beneath.
Life Cycle Egg, to 3/64" (1.2 mm), green and ribbed; laid singly. Caterpillar, to 1 1/8" (28 mm), of variable color: tan or rust, marbled with dull green and bearing short, branched spines along back and on head. Chrysalis tan to brown with dark streaks. Currants (Ribes) are
host plants. Fall and spring adults.
Flight 2 broods; April-October.
Habitat Woods, especially deciduous; also along roads and trails and in clearings, such as campsites and homesteads.
Range British Columbia, Wyoming, and Kansas east to Nova Scotia, Missouri, and North Carolina; possibly Alaska.
Discussion Like its relatives, the Gray Comma is fond of sap, rotting fruit, carrion, and scat, but it also takes nectar from flowers somewhat more often than most anglewings, except for the Zephyr. When the Gray Comma perches on tree trunks with its wings folded, its ashen, finely lined underside blends superbly with the weathered wood. This species flies more slowly than the other anglewings.
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