Sagebrush Checkerspot
Chlosyne acastus
Description 1 1/4-1 3/4" (32-44 mm). Male pale orange above with fine to heavy black lines; female is deeper orange but some females are yellowish or blackish. Below, pale mottled orange no FW with marginal white crescents; HW has narrow orange submarginal bands and broad cream-white bands of black-rimmed spots (submarginal orange band may be vague orange circles on cream-colored background).
Similar Species Northern Checkerspot is more richly colored above and below. Desert Checkerspot has clear orange FW below, silver-white spot bands on HW below. Gabb's Checkerspot smaller, darker, with narrower cream-colored bands beneath.
Life Cycle Eggs are clustered. Caterpillar black with cream-colored dots, stripes of orange crescents, and many spines. Host plant rabbit brush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus); asters (Machaeranthera canescens, M. viscosa) suspected.
Flight 1 brood in Oregon; May-June. Several broods from Utah to New Mexico; May-September.
Habitat Arid grassland gulches, pinyon-juniper woodlands, sagebrush hills, and canyons.
Range Great Basin and intermountain areas from SE. Washington and S. Alberta east to North Dakota and south to SE. California and New Mexico.
Discussion The Sagebrush Checkerspot generally inhabits pinyon-juniper habitats that are rich in both sagebrush and rabbit brush, but a few colonies have been discovered in open sageland.
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