Family:Hesperiidae
Family
Description:
Alternate Common Name: Western Long Dash.
Range:
This species ranges from southern British Columbia south to central California,
and from central and southeastern Idaho south and east to central Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado.
Habitat:
It occurs in moist areas such as meadows, along streams, and
in coastal plains.
Diet:
Caterpillar:
Caterpillars feed on grasses; the preferred species is currently thought
to be Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis).
Adult: Butterflies drink flower nectar, often from white-flowered thistles.
Ecology:
There is one generation of caterpillars each summer. The overwintering
stage is unreported. Adults generally fly from June through September. The
butterflies when at rest are found with their forewings partially open and their
hindwings fully open.
Reproduction:
Males perch
to wait for receptive females. The sites chosen by females for oviposition have not been reported.
Conservation:
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Global Rank: | G5
populations levels are secure, but may be of concern in the future. |
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.