finding Cinnabar

Sitting on the floor of the garage was a kind of butterfly or moth I don’t remember ever having seen before.

It was quite small, about an inch long.  Now, I identify butterflies as: Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, white butterfly, moth (if it’s nighttime), and other.  But this was a different kind of other.

Fortunately, the web is wonderful for this sort of thing, and I rapidly discovered it is a Cinnabar moth, Tyria jacobaeae.  And I’ve seen lots of its caterpillars, munching though our plants.  Now the cycle is complete.

Beautiful.