''Chlosyne whitneyi'', the rockslide checkerspot or Sierra Nevada checkerspot, is a

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

of the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species ha ...

. It is found in western North America from

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

south, in the mountains, to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 32–41 mm. Adults are on wing from July to August in one generation per year.Butterflies of Montana
/ref> Its habitats include alpine rockslides and scree slopes. The larvae feed on various species in the sunflower family including ''

Erigeron ''Erigeron'' () is a large genus of plants in the composite family (Asteraceae). It is placed in the tribe Astereae and is closely related to the Old World asters (''Aster (genus), Aster'') and the true daisies (''Bellis''). The genus has a cosm ...

'' and ''

Solidago ''Solidago'', commonly called goldenrods, is a genus of about 100 to 120''Solidago''.
F ...

'' species.

Subspecies

*'' Chlosyne whitneyi damoetas'' (Skinner, 1902) *''Chlosyne whitneyi whitneyi''

References

External links

* * whitneyi Butterflies of North America Taxa named by Hans Hermann Behr Butterflies described in 1863 Lepidoptera of the United States Lepidoptera of Canada {{nymphalinae-stub