Range:
Its range includes Alaska, all of Canada, the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains,
parts of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, northern Minnesota, New Hampshire, and
Maine. In Idaho, it has been documented
to occur in the eastern part of the state in Fremont and Bear Lake Counties.
Habitat:
It tends to be in wetter and more harsh climates, including
tundra, alpine meadows, bogs, and coniferous forests.
Diet:
Caterpillar:
Caterpillars eat the leaves of violets (Viola spp.), willows (Salix
spp.), and possibly blueberries (Vaccinium spp.).
Adult:
Butterflies drink flower nectar.
Ecology:
This species is biennial in much of its range. Very young caterpillars overwinter,
in a physiological state called diapause, the first winter. In spring,
they emerge, feed, and undergo several molts through summer and fall. The following
winter, the mature caterpillars enter diapause again, and emerge in the spring
to finish their development into butterflies. In the other parts of its range,
very young caterpillars overwinter and finish their development the following
summer. This species of Fritillary flies
late into the fall and is often one of the last observed of the season.
Reproduction:
Males actively patrol
for receptive females. Females lay eggs on a variety of plant species, typically
positioning them on the undersides of 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.