Black-pointed (black-painted) Tilewhite

This might be a good opportunity to say something about butterfly common names. This species, like others, seems to have several. Unlike with birds, common names for butterflies seem to change with each new field guide that is published. Often, there is no common name, and the editor just makes them up for their book. The latin scientific names can be daunting and meaningless if you don't know the language, especially to less scientifically-minded types who have not been using latin names for decades, so a lot of butterfly watchers tend to use these problematic common names (us included). We are not offering a solution to this potentially confusing matter, only a warning to butterfly watchers to have some patience in discussing species with eachother. We have tried to include both common and scientific names in our galleries to avoid confusion.

It seems all too often when we mention a common name, the person(s) we are speaking to knows it by another, and if we mention the scientific name, they look at us like we are speaking jibberish. Hahaha, I love it! Add to that, the fact that we have our own pet names for certain species like "snouter" for American Snout Butterfly, and it gets even more confusing. Our apologies if we are unclear on these matters. The common bond is our fascination with and enjoyment of these creatures, which we all share. Eventually, the nomenclature will catch up with our passion.