Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site
Monitoring butterfly populations across Central California for more than 35 years… Satyrium tetra
Common Name: Mountain-Mahogany Hairstreak
On the transect, this species is disjunctly distributed, occurring in Gates Canyon, where it is uncommon, and at Sierra Valley, where it is abundant. Both populations feed on Mountain-Mahogany (Cercocarpus): Gates on the foothill species, C. betuloides, a chaparral shrub, and Sierra Valley on C. ledifolius, found in rocky habitats in East slope shrub-steppe and often at or near tree-line in arid climates. The Sierra Valley animals, especially females, are larger than at Gates. There is one brood, in June-July at Gates, July-August at Sierra Valley. Males are territorial perchers, usuallty on or near the host plant, forming leks in the afternoon. Both sexes visit flowes: at Gates on Yerba Santa and California Buckeye, at Sierra Valley on Alfalfa, yellow Ivesia, Eriogonum, White Sweet-Clover, Milkweed, etc. The host plants - and the butterfly - occur at none of the other sites.
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