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Uhler's Arctic

(Oeneis uhleri)

 

 

 

Uhler's Arctic (Oeneis uhleri [Reakirt])

Wing span: 1 1/2 - 2 3/16 inches (3.8 - 5.6 cm).

Identification: Upperside is dull orange-brown with dark veins. Underside of hindwing has a dark basal half, a lighter outer half. Both wings have one-to-many small submarginal spots.

Life history: To find females, males perch and occasionally patrol below ridge crests in bunch-grass habitat. Females lay eggs singly on grasses and sedges. Fourth-stage caterpillars hibernate, emerge in the spring to feed again, and pupate just under the soil.

Flight: One brood from early June to early July.

Caterpillar hosts: Grasses and sedges.

Adult food: Not reported.

Habitat: Slopes in dry, open bunchgrass habitats; tundra; openings in pine forest.

Range: Northeast Alaska, Yukon and western Northwest territories. Central Alberta south through the Rocky Mountains to northern New Mexico; east through the Canadian prairie provinces to western Minnesota.

 

Uhler's Arctic (Oeneis uhleri)