Atalopedes campestris

Last updated

Atalopedes campestris
Atalopedes campestris male 1115109.jpg
Female
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Atalopedes
Species:
A. campestris
Binomial name
Atalopedes campestris
Boisduval, 1852
Sachem range map.png
  Year round
  Migration

Atalopedes campestris (called sachem in the United States and Canada) is a small grass skipper butterfly. [2] It has a wingspan of 35–41 mm (1+3⁄8–1+5⁄8 in). Male is orange, edged with brown, and has a large brown-black stigma. Female is darker with lighter markings in the center of the wing.

Contents

Description

The sachem's wingspan is 35–41 mm (1+3⁄8–1+5⁄8 in). [3] The sexes are dissimilar but both have elongated wings. [4] The uppersides of the male forewing are orange bordered with brown and have a large four sided black stigma. [3] The color of the uppersides of the female wings are dark brown with golden spots in the center but are highly variable, light to very dark. [3] The uppersides of the female forewing have a black median spot and several semi-transparent spots. [4] Females can always be identified by the square white transparent spot at the end of the forewing cell. [3]

Underside of wings on both sexes are variable but the female hindwing is brown with light colored four-sided spots. [3]

The sachem is often mistaken for other skipper butterflies in the genus Hesperia. [5]

Distribution and habitat

This skipper is common in the southern United States ranging south through Mexico and Central America to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Brazil. [3] [6] During the warmer North American months, it can be found in northern parts of North America up to Montana, Washington, and New York excluding most of the Rocky Mountains. [7] One was sighted and photographed in southern Manitoba, Canada, on July 11, 2015. [8] Strays have been reported in British Columbia, Canada, three times, once each in 1937, 1953, and 1960. [2]

Atalopedes campestris can be found in open, disturbed areas such as roadsides, lawns, pastures, parks, oil fields, and landfills. [3] [4]

It had been observed that the sachem expanded its range northward rapidly during the beginning of the 21st century. A study by Crozier shows that this expansion is due to the winter warming trend of climate change rather than evolution of cold tolerance for this species. [9]

Life cycle

The sachem butterfly undergoes fours stages of complete metamorphosis:

Eggs

Eggs are greenish-white and are laid singly on or near the host plant leaves. [7] The height of the egg is 0.9–1.0 mm (1⁄32–3⁄64 in). The width of the egg is 0.6–0.7 mm (1⁄48–1⁄32 in). The egg has polygonal sculpturing on its surface. [10]

Larvae

The Atalopedes campestris larva (or caterpillar) goes through five stages called instars. [10] Each caterpillar must shed its exoskeleton in order to grow. Differences between instars can be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, changes in the number of body segments, or head width.

Larvae of the Family Hesperiidae "have a head, three thoracic segments, and ten abdominal segments." Each segment in the thorax has a pair of true legs. Segments three to six and ten in the abdomen have prolegs. Respiration openings, called spiracles, can be found on the first segment of the thorax and segments one to eight of the abdomen. [10]

The last abdominal segment, segment ten, features an anal comb. The anal comb is shaped like a fan and located near the anus to launch the caterpillar excrement, or frass, away from the caterpillar. Sometimes the frass is propelled several feet away. [10]

The sachem caterpillar's head is black. [4] Its body is dark olive green with black dots or bumps and a dark dorsal line. [7] [3] The legs are brown. The length of the larvae in the last instar varies from 18 to 40 mm (3⁄4 to 1+5⁄8 in). [10]

The larvae construct nests made of a host plant leaf (or leaves) and silk that they excrete. They build new shelters as they grow and move through their different instars. [11] The larvae spend most of their lives in these shelters. [7]

Pupa

The sachem larva pupates in the same silked-leaf nest where it spends most of its life. [7]

The pupa is dark brown, almost black [7] and is cream colored on the end of the abdomen which has brown dots. [10] The proboscis extends 2 mm (5⁄64 in) beyond the wings. [7] The length of the pupa is 18.0–22.5 mm (23⁄32–7⁄8 in) with a width of 4.30–5.83 mm (1⁄8–1⁄4 in). [10]

The pupae of hesperiid have the same basic structure as the larvae—a head, three thoracic segments, and ten abdominal segments. The last abdominal segment is modified into the cremaster which is used to cement the pupa to the nest. Before an adult butterfly emerges from the pupa, the legs, wing, and antennae of the butterfly can be seen in the pupa; these are cemented to the body. [10]

Adult

An adult butterfly emerges from the pupa. The time that adult sachems take flight, mate, and the female lays fertilized eggs is known as a flight. This happens three times, May through November, in the northern part of their range. In the southern part of their range, flights occur four to five times, March through December. [3] Males perch on grasses during the day to await females. Migration occurs to the north and only one mass migration is known to occur in late summer. [7]

Larval host plants

The host plants used by the sachem caterpillar are various grasses including Bermuda grass, hairy crabgrass, red fescue, St. Augustine grass, Indian goosegrass, [7] seashore saltgrass, and Imperata cylindrica . [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Large skipper</span> Species of butterfly

The large skipper is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Small blue</span> Species of butterfly

The small blue is a Palearctic butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Despite its common name, it is not particularly blue. The male has some bluish suffusion at the base of its upper wings but is mostly dark brown like the female. The species can live in colonies of up to several hundred and in its caterpillar stage is cannibalistic.

<i>Ancistroides folus</i> Species of butterfly

Ancistroides folus, the grass demon, is a small but prominent butterfly found in India & Nepal that belongs to the skipper family, Hesperiidae. It is regarded as an occasional pest of ginger and turmeric plants.

<i>Gangara thyrsis</i> Species of butterfly

Gangara thyrsis, commonly known as the giant redeye, is a species of butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It breeds on a number of palm species.

<i>Pelopidas thrax</i> Species of butterfly

Pelopidas thrax, the pale small-branded swift, millet skipper or white branded swift, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is found in Greece, western and south-western Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Arabia, Africa, Kashmir and the parts of the Far East. In Greece, it is only known from Samos, Chios, and Rhodes, where it is found at altitudes of sea level to 75 meters.

<i>Spialia galba</i> Species of butterfly

Spialia galba, the Indian grizzled skipper, is a hesperiid butterfly which is found in South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zabulon skipper</span> Species of butterfly

The Zabulon skipper is a North American butterfly first described by the French naturalists Jean Baptiste Boisduval and John Eatton Le Conte from the state of Georgia, United States.

<i>Ideopsis vulgaris</i> Species of butterfly

Ideopsis vulgaris, the blue glassy tiger, is a butterfly that belongs to the crows and tigers, that is, the danaid group of the brush-footed butterflies family.

<i>Papilio aegeus</i> Species of butterfly

Papilio aegeus, the orchard swallowtail butterfly or large citrus butterfly is a species of butterfly from the family Papilionidae, that is found in eastern Australia and Papua New Guinea.

<i>Amathusia phidippus</i> Species of butterfly

Amathusia phidippus, the palmking, is a butterfly found in India and Southeast Asia. It belongs to the Satyrinae, a subfamily of the brush-footed butterflies.

<i>Loxura atymnus</i> Species of butterfly

Loxura atymnus, the yamfly, is a species of lycaenid or blue butterfly found in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiery skipper</span> Species of butterfly

The fiery skipper is a species of butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. Reaching approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) in length, male fiery skippers are orange or yellow while the females are dark brown. Small brown spots may be observed on both the hindwing and forewing of both sexes although to a varying degree. Females may be darker brown overall with pale checkered markings on the hindwing. Fiery skipper larvae, or caterpillars, are greenish pink-grey with a black head and constricted neck. These larvae are often considered pests and can feed on Bermudagrass, creeping bentgrass, and St. Augustine grass.

<i>Epargyreus clarus</i> Species of butterfly

Epargyreus clarus, the silver-spotted skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is claimed to be the most recognized skipper in North America. E. clarus occurs in fields, gardens, and at forest edges and ranges from southern Canada throughout most of the United States to northern Mexico, but is absent in the Great Basin and western Texas.

<i>Carterocephalus silvicola</i> Species of butterfly

Carterocephalus silvicola, the northern chequered skipper, is a species of butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in northern Europe and the northern and eastern Palearctic.

<i>Ancyloxypha numitor</i> Species of butterfly

Ancyloxypha numitor, the least skipper, is a North American butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. They have a weak, Satyrinae-like flight.

<i>Polites themistocles</i> Species of butterfly

Polites themistocles, the tawny-edged skipper, is a North American butterfly in the family Hesperiidae.

<i>Dispar compacta</i> Species of butterfly

Dispar compacta, commonly known as the dispar skipper, barred skipper, or barred grass-skipper, is a species of butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. It was described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1882 as Telesto compacta and is endemic to eastern Australia.

<i>Troides amphrysus</i> Species of butterfly

Troides amphrysus, the Malay birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly in the genus Troides in the family Papilionidae.

<i>Carterocephalus palaemon</i> Species of butterfly

Carterocephalus palaemon, the chequered skipper or arctic skipper, not to be confused with the large chequered skipper, is a species of woodland butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. This butterfly can live in grasslands. The upperside of the butterfly is brown with orange spots and on its underside the chequered skipper is orange with brown spots. Chequered skippers are found in Great Britain and other European regions, but seen locally in Japan and in North America. The size of the chequered skipper ranges from 19 to 32 mm with females being larger. In the 1970s, the chequered skipper went extinct in England due to the new management of the woodlands.

<i>Eurybia elvina</i> Species of butterfly

Eurybia elvina, commonly known as the blind eurybia, is a Neotropical metalmark butterfly. Like many other riodinids, the caterpillars are myrmecophilous and have tentacle nectary organs that exude a fluid similar to that produced by the host plant Calathea ovandensis. This mutualistic relationship allows ants to harvest the exudate, and in return provide protection in the form of soil shelters for larvae. The larvae communicate with the ants by vibrations produced by the movement of its head. The species was described and given its binomial name by the German lepidopterist Hans Stichel in 1910.

References

  1. ↑ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0 Atalopedes campestris Sachem". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  2. 1 2 Shepard, John; Crispin Guppy (2001). Butterflies of British Columbia: Including Western Alberta, Southern Yukon, the Alaska Panhandle, Washington, Northern Oregon, Northern Idaho, and Northwestern Montana. UBC Press. p. 114. ISBN   978-0-77480-809-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Opler, Paul A.; Vichai Malikul (1998). A Field Guide to Eastern Butterflies (Peterson Field Guides). Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 380. ISBN   978-0-395-90453-4.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Daniels, Jaret C. (2003). Butterflies of Florida Field Guide. Adventure Publications, Inc. pp. 184–185. ISBN   978-1-59193-005-1.
  5. ↑ Brock, Jim P.; Kaufman, Kenn (2003). Kaufman Focus Guides Butterflies of North America. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 302. ISBN   978-0618254002.
  6. ↑ "FAMILIA HESPERIIDAE". Bio-Nica.info - Su portal web sobre la Biodiversidad de Nicaragua (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Scott, James A. (1986). The Butterflies of North America A Natural History and Field Guide. Stanford University Press. p. 448. ISBN   978-0-8047-2013-7.
  8. ↑ "Sighting 1054222". Butterflies and Moths of North America. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Crozier, Lisa (2003). "Winter Warming Facilitates Range Expansion: Cold Tolerance of the Butterfly Atalopedes Campestris". Oecologia. 135 (4): 648–656. Bibcode:2003Oecol.135..648C. doi:10.1007/s00442-003-1219-2. JSTOR   4223634. PMID   12684862. S2CID   6679111.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Minno, Marc C. (1994). Immature stages of the skipper butterflies (Lepidoptera: hesperiidae) of the United States : biology, morphology, and descriptions (PhD). University of Florida. pp. 27, 268–269. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  11. ↑ Lind, Eric M.; Jones, Meg T.; Long, Jeremy D.; Weiss, Martha R. (2001). "Ontogenetic Changes in Leaf Shelter Construction by Larvae of Epargyreus Clarus (Hesperiiddae), The Silver-spotted Skipper" (PDF). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. 54 (3). Retrieved 15 September 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.