Family:Hesperiidae
Family
Description:
Alternate Common Name: Great Basin Sootywing.
Note: This species is referred to with the genus name Pholisora
by some authors.
Range:
This species ranges from eastern Oregon south through California and Nevada
to Mexico, and from eastern Montana and western North Dakota southwest through
parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. It occurs in Idaho only in the southwestern corner of the state.
Habitat:
It is restricted to dry areas with little relief, such as
flat sagebrush steppe
and deserts.
Diet:
Caterpillar:
Caterpillars feed on the leaves of four-winged salt bush (Atriplex canescens)
and shadscale (other Atriplex spp.).
Adult: Butterflies feed on flower nectar.
Ecology:
Caterpillars live in nests made from leaves tied with silk. The number of generations
of caterpillars each year varies geographically, with only one in the northern
part of its range, two in the central part, and several in the south. The overwintering
stage is unreported. Adults generally fly from March through October.
Reproduction:
Males actively patrol
in search of receptive females. Females lay large eggs, colored light orange
or off-white, singly on host plant leaves.
Conservation:
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Global Rank: | G5
populations are widespread, abundant, and secure. |
Opler, P. A., H. Pavulaan, and R. E. Stanford. 1995. Butterflies of North America. Jamestown, North Dakota, USA: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Home Page. http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/bflyusa.htm (Version 05Nov98).
Opler, P. A. and A. B.Wright. 1999. A Field Guide to the Western Butterflies. Second Edition. Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, New York, USA, 540 pp.
Pyle, R. M. 1981. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, New York, USA, 924 pp.
Scott, J. A. 1986. The Butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, USA, 583 pp.
Stanford, R. E. and P. A. Opler. 1993. Atlas of Western U.S.A. Butterflies (Including Adjacent Parts of Canada and Mexico). Published by authors, Denver, Colorado, USA, 275 pp.