Upperside of male yellow with orange overlay, yellow veins, wide black border, and dark black cell spot. Female yellow or white with irregular black border surrounding light spots. Underside hindwing spot silver with 2 concentric dark rings, and a spot above it. Most feeding takes place at night. Young caterpillars chew holes in the tops of leaves, then later feed from the leaf tip.
Older caterpillars eat half of the leaf before moving to the other half.
A wide variety of open sites, especially clover and alfalfa fields, mowed fields, vacant lots, meadows, road edges. One of the most widespread and common butterflies in North America. G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery. Opler, P. A. and G. O. Krizek. Butterflies east of the Great Plains.