I am not sure why, but this Red-spotted Purple butterfly (Limenitis arthemis) decided to perch upside-down in the vegetation when I accidently spooked it recently at Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge.
Please don’t ask me why “purple” is part of the butterfly’s name—I don’t see any purple either and for that matter,
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reservedthe red doesn’t really look like spots either. Who makes up these names anyways?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
I do see some purple on the edge of the wings and some red orangy spots! May be it’s your definition of purple Mike. Nice inage anyway!
Good point, Chris. In fact, I do have a certain violet color in mind when I think of “purple.”
Perhaps the person who named it had poor eye sight. If you blur a little then the colours blend and some patches look purple. Or maybe it’s colours have evolved and once it was purple.
Good explanations, Laura, and quite plausible. I like to make fun of names that seem a little “off” to me and this is far from being the strangest of them.