Polixenes Arctic (Oeneis polixenes [Fabricius])
Wing span: 1 5/8 - 2 1/8 inches (4.2 - 5.4 cm).
Identification: Wings are somewhat translucent. Upperside is gray-brown; male has no markings, female may have 2 small black eyespots. Underside of hindwing is mottled gray, brown, and black and has a distinct median band outlined in white.
Life history: Males patrol and occasionally perch during the day in grassy swales to seek females. Two years are required to complete development; the first winter is passed by first-stage caterpillars, the second winter by mature caterpillars.
Flight: One brood from mid-June to early August.
Caterpillar hosts: Grasses and sedges.
Adult food: Occasionally flower nectar.
Habitat: Open wet tundra.
Range: Alaska east through the North American arctic to Baffin Island, Labrador, eastern Quebec, and central Maine. Isolated populations in the Rocky Mountains south to northern New Mexico.
