Females are larger than males. The female is shown below the male. FYI The Red-Spotted Purple and the White Admiral are actually known to be the same species. Isn't that confusing!?? So it makes sense these two distinctly different-looking butterflies have to have different subspecies names. Hense, the Red-Spotted Purple is Limenitis arthemis astyanax, while the White Admiral is Limenities arthemis arthemis. Ahhhhh, but wait because we are not out of the confusing woods yet - some of the hybrids have names too. Any hybrid (intermediate form) between the two parent types is simply Limenitis arthemis 'hybrid'. The one you see most often is a hybrid with a full white band called a Banded Purple. Its scientific name is Limenitis arthemis f. proserpina. * Info courtesy of Dr. James Maudsley of Georgia
*We replaced the photo with an updated version, however, it is very hard to capture the true color of this butterfly. In reality, it's a blue~green teal color that has a slight iridescence to it, and is very hard to photograph. If you have a good photo of this please send it to us!