Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site
Monitoring butterfly populations across Central California for more than 35 years… Polites sabuleti ssp.
Common Name: "Verdi" Sandhill Skipper
This entity is neither the lowland P. s. sabuleti nor the high-montane P. s. tecumseh. It is marked as heavily as tecumseh (though the female ground color is generally paler here) and is as large as summer P. s. sabuleti, but with numerous pattern differences. Several subspecies names have been applied in the western Great Basin and we will cautiously reserve judgment as to which, if any, of these names applies to this entity, which occurs in Sierra Valley and the upper Feather River country near Quincy, as well as (very locally) near Truckee and at Verdi, NV. In some places and years it seems to be univoltine, flying between the two broods of tecumseh at Sierra Valley with variable temporal overlap; or it may be bivoltine, with partial overlap. All in all, the situation -- which is under molecular study in our group - is complex, with partial sympatry and synchrony of putative subspecies! Visits Rabbitbrush, Canada Thistle, Dogbane, etc.
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