Range:
This species occurs throughout North America and northern South America. It
can be found everywhere in Idaho.
Habitat:
It can be found in a wide variety of habitats, including woodlands,
gardens, suburbs, and along rivers and streams.
Diet:
Caterpillar:
Caterpillars feed primarily on the leaves of deciduous trees, including willow
(Salix spp.), elm (Ulmus spp.), cottonwood and aspen (Populus
spp.), birch (Betula spp.), and hackberry (Celtis spp.).
Adult:
Butterflies feed on tree sap (especially oaks (Quercus spp.)), fruit,
and occasionally flower nectar.
Ecology:
There is usually one generation of caterpillars each summer, but there
may be as many as three in some locations. Caterpillars feed together in groups,
sometimes defoliating trees. Mature caterpillars pupate mid- to late summer; adult butterflies
emerge, feed, then estivate (enter a sort of summer hibernation) until
autumn. In autumn, butterflies feed again before overwintering in a physiological
state called diapause. Butterflies emerge in spring to mate, and may be one
of the first observable spring species. Adults generally fly from March to June
and from September to Novemeber. Some butterflies may migrate instead of hibernating in the fall.
Reproduction:
Males perch to
wait for receptive females. Females lay eggs in groups in a single layer, occasionally
on leaves and more often encircling twigs of host plants.
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.