Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site - Phyciodes

Phyciodes campestris inornatus

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:55:12 +0000

This is a relatively pale entity with broader median yellow band characteristic of the western Great Basin and Northeastern California populations found with Aster along watercourses in sage brush steppe. It appeared and apparently bred in Sierra Valley in 2008 in a different location from P. c. montana. It is the only P. campestris found between Beckwourth Pass and Hallelujah Junction, a few miles northeast of our Sierra Valley site.

Phyciodes campestris campestris

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:09 +0000

The low-altitude subspecies of P. campestris (also called P. pratensis and P. pulchellus) occurs in local colonies in the Sacramento Valley and Delta and in the Coast Range, but only barely ascends the Sierran West slope. It is "capped" by a "no man's land" where no members of the species occur, and above that the endemic montane P. c. montana. Nominate campestris and montana intergrade in the Feather River Country (formerly including Sierra Valley). The campestris phenotype extends from the South Cascades and the High North Coast Range north to the subarctic. In the absence of montana, moreover, it climbs to near tree-line in the Klamath region. This situation deserves further study.

Nominate campestris is double-to-triple brooded on the floor of the Sacramento Valley: normally triple (March-October) but only double in years of persistent flooding in its lowland, usually floodplain or tule marsh, habitat. In such years it may not emerge until June or early July. There was formerly a large colony just north of Davis, which now seems to be extinct. On our transect there have been temporary breeding populations at West Sacramento only, with rare strays elsewhere.

At the Suisun Marsh occurs a very richly-colored race, with the medial part of the wing decidedly yellower than the rest. Its occurrence is especially erratic at our Suisun site, where it does not seem to be a permanent resident.

The multivoltine Valley populations have a fairly pronounced seasonal polyphenism; the cold-seasaon ones are more orange above with less black than in summer, and the hindwing underside is mottled with brown and sometimes silvered, especially in females.

The host plant is Aster, normally the A. chilensis complex (including A. lentus). The eggs are laid in batches and the larvae feed gregariously, at least when young. Adults visit Aster blossoms, but also native Lythrum (Lythraceae), Tall Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum), thistles and star thistles, etc.

Phyciodes campestris campestris/montana

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:08 +0000

In the upper Feather River drainage occur highly variable populations phenotypically intermediate between Phyciodes campestris campestris and the endemic high-Sierran P. c. montana. The population of this complex in Sierra Valley was formerly one of these, but it went extinct for unknown reasons. Today we find-rather uncommonly-a montana-type animal in the same area. The metropolis of the intergrading populations now seems to be the vicinity of Caribou Road, near Highway 70, where every conceivable intermediate phenotype can be taken. The former Sierra Valley population was at least partially double-brooded, and fed on Aster.

Phyciodes campestris montana

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:07 +0000

Abundant in the Sierra Nevada from about 4000' to tree-line; occasionally lower in canyons with cold-air drainage (as at Washington). There is a "no-man's land" in the foothills occupied by neither P. campestris campestris nor P. c. montana. In northwestern and northeastern California, north of the range of P. c. montana, P. c. campestris goes right up to tree-line! The northern end of the range of the Sierran-endemic entity montana is occupied by a swarm of intermediate and highly variable populations throughout the Feather River drainage. At Beckwourth Pass, NNE of Sierraville in shrub-steppe high desert, the mix includes Great Basin phenotypes variously styled vallis and camillus. The Sierra Valley population of intergrades is extinct and has seemingly been replaced by montana at low density.

The Montana Crescent is found in meadows, woods edges, trailsides and successional sites, wherever its hosts, Aster species, grow. It swarms over puddles and Aster (and many other) blossoms. The one brood extends from June through August. At Lang and very rarely at Donner there is a partial second emergence in September.

Phyciodes mylitta

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:06 +0000

An abundant, weedy species found at all sites on the transect, though it may not be a permanent resident. The Mylitta Crescent breeds on Thistles. It originally used native species of Cirsium, probably mostly in wet habitats. With the naturalization of weedy European species of Cirsium, Carduus and Silybum, it is now found in all kinds of disturbed (including urban) habitats. Many of the weedy hosts dry up by early summer and it then must contract down to colonies of Bull Thistle, Cirsium vulgare, which persists all summer (or, on the East slope, Canada Thistle, C. arvense). The part-grown larvae overwinter and can be found sunning themselves on mild midwinter days. The upperside pattern of males varies greatly and is sometimes nearly obsolescent. The ventral hindwing is redder in cold seasons, especially in females, and the crescent marking is more strikingly silvered. Males patrol along roadsides and often sit at ground level. Both sexes visit many flowers, from Thistles to Yerba Santa to Heliotrope. Breeds continuously in warm weather: February-November near sea level, June-October in the high country, often one of the last species flying and visiting Rabbitbrush there.

Phyciodes orseis herlani

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:05 +0000

The Sierra Nevada subspecies, herlani, of the California Crescent is uncommon and spottily distributed, but its lack of highly visible distinguishing characteristics may result in it being seriously underreported. It almost always co-occurs with the much commoner Mylitta (P. mylitta) and Montana (P. campestris montana) Crescents and can be described as averaging slightly larger than either, with a wing pattern that in detail matches a heavily marked Mylitta, but with the outer half of the wings above (especially the hindwing) with the pattern more or less suppressed as in Montana. I am not sure if I have seen more real herlani misidentified as something else, or the reverse! Along our transect it breeds at Donner, but is never common.

The other subspecies, P. orseis orseis, looks like a very heavily marked Mylitta colored like a P. campestris campestris, and usually co-occurs with both. It is just possible that both subspecies represent stabilized hybrid populations between their respective congeners. However, the two - Mylitta and Campestris - are broadly sympatric elsewhere and have never been known to hybridize.

Herlani occurs along trails or roads through conifer forest, and in clearings or glades, often sitting on or near the ground. It is single-brooded, flying usually in June-July. The larval host plants are Thistles (genus Cirsium), both native and introduced (as in Mylitta).