http://10.70.15.71/taxonomy/term/70/0 en http://10.70.15.71/butterfly/Zerene/eurydice <p>California's State Insect, but seen by very few people in the wild. It is largely restricted to <a class="glossary-term" href="/glossary/3#term164"><acronym title="Occurring along creeks, rivers, or other bodies of fresh water. These wetter habitats are usually characterized by different flora and fauna than their adjacent upland habitats. The Pipevine Swallowtail and Lorquin’s Admiral are characteristic riparian butterflies.">riparian</acronym></a> habitat in the Sacramento Valley (now much restricted) and in the Coast Range and Sierran foothills. Its only known <a class="glossary-term" href="/glossary/3#term128"><acronym title="The species or set of species of plants that caterpillars must eat to develop properly. Host plant specificity can vary greatly across butterfly species, ranging from only 1 plant species to dozens of suitable plant species. Host plant specificity can promote speciation between two or more groups of closely related through reproductive isolation. Prime examples of this are Euphilotes blue butterflies and some Apodemia metalmarks that almost exclusively use different species or varieties buckwheats (Eriogonum) as larval hosts. A similar situation has been demonstrated in Mitoura hairstreaks that feed on trees in the family Cupressaceae (junipers, incense-cedar, cypresses).">host plant</acronym></a>, False Indigo (<i>Amorpha</i>), is a rather inconspicuous shrub found with Poison Oak, Willow, etc. near streambanks, often along boulder-strewn tributary streams in side canyons where access is very difficult. Adults are very strong fliers and are regularly seen in strange places (such as my driveway in Davis!) and thus show up at several sites on this <a class="glossary-term" href="/glossary/3#term175"><acronym title="A line along which environmental data is collected. In this study, the 10 locations that have been regularly sampled for butterfly diversity is roughly along a transect line paralleling U.S. Interstate 80 from the eastern San Francisco delta through the Sacramento Valley, and up and over the Sierra Nevada mountains.">transect</acronym></a> although only Gates Canyon is known to have a breeding population.</p> <p>Adults apparently hibernate. They begin flying in March, before the host leafs out. There is a new <a class="glossary-term" href="/glossary/3#term86"><acronym title="The description of how many broods (generations) per year a particular butterfly species produces at any one location. A butterfly with one generation per year is “univoltine”. Butterflies with two generations per year are called “bivoltine” and those with more than two are generally referred to as “multivoltine”.">brood</acronym></a> in late spring-early summer and apparently another in September-October (rarely November), but the life-history is not well understood. Males fly a beat, often coming down a canyon, then turning around and going back up again, and repeating. Both sexes routinely fly 15-20' off the ground. They dip down to visit such flowers as California Buckeye, thistles, tall blue verbena, etc. but seldom linger long.</p> Zerene Sun, 28 May 2006 18:07:15 +0000 admin 175 at http://10.70.15.71