Erebia callias

Colorado alpine
Upperside
Underside
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Erebia
Species:	E. callias
Binomial name
Erebia callias W.H. Edwards, 1871

Erebia callias, the Colorado alpine, is a member of the Satyridae subfamily of the Nymphalidae butterflies. It is found in alpine areas of Wyoming and Colorado in the U.S. Rocky Mountains as well as various mountain ranges in the eastern Palearctic. ^[1]

The wingspan is 35–38 mm. ^{[2] [1]}

Subspecies

• Erebia callias callias (Rocky Mountains)
• Erebia callias sibiricaStaudinger, 1881 (Saur and Tarbagatai Mountains)
• Erebia callias altajanaStaudinger, 1901 (Altai Mountains)
• Erebia callias simulataWarren, 1933 (Sayan Mountains)
• Erebia callias tsherskiensisDubatolov, 1992 (Far East)

Taxonomy

Erebia callias has been lumped as part of the brassy ringlet complex with the Siberian brassy ringlets as they are almost alike morphologically. Though one might suspect stronger differentiation and perhaps marked cryptic speciation across the wide range, the Rocky Mountains population is apparently a very recent isolate. Its ancestors apparently crossed over the Bering Strait at the end of the Wisconsinian glaciation, about 15,000 to 10,000 years ago.

References

1. "Erebia callias". explorer.natureserve.org.
2. "Colorado Alpine Erebia callias W.H. Edwards, 1871 | Butterflies and Moths of North America". www.butterfliesandmoths.org.

External links

• Butterflies and Moths of North America