Cercyonis sthenele

Cercyonis sthenele, the Great Basin wood-nymph, is a North American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.

Great Basin wood-nymph
Cercyonis sthenele paulus, male
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Cercyonis
Species:
C. sthenele
Binomial name
Cercyonis sthenele
(Boisduval, 1852)
Synonyms
  • Satyrus sthenele Boisduval, 1852[1]
  • Minois sthenele

Description

It is dark brown with two eyespots on the forewing with the upper larger than the lower.[2]

The wingspan measures 39–44 mm (1.5–1.7 in). Its flight period is from late June to late August.[3] It is found in arid woodland, especially pinyon-juniper, chaparral and brushland habitats.[4]

Subspecies

The following subspecies are recognised:[5]

  • C. s. behrii (F. Grinnell, 1905)
  • C. s. hypoleuca Hawks and J. Emmel, 1998
  • C. s. masoni Cross, 1937
  • C. s. paulus (Edwards, 1879)
  • C. s. silvestris Edwards, 1861
  • C. s. sineocellata Austin and J. Emmel in T. Emmel, 1998
  • C. s. sthenele (Boisduval, 1852) - nominate subspecies endemic to San Francisco Peninsula, now extinct[6]

Similar species

Range and distribution

Ranges over much of the western United States and reaches to southern British Columbia, Canada.[3]

Larval host plants

Larvae feed on various species of grass. The first instar hibernates.[3]

References

  1. Butterflies of America
  2. Brock, Jim P.; Kaufman, Kenn (2003). Butterflies of North America. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-15312-8.
  3. "Great Basin Wood-nymph". Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility. 2002. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  4. "Cercyonis sthenele". explorer.natureserve.org.
  5. "Cercyonis Scudder, 1875" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  6. https://itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt
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