''Chlosyne harrisii'', or Harris's checkerspot, is a member 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 have a red ...

that is found in North America. They range from the Canadian

Atlantic provinces Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

, excluding

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, to

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Win ...

and

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, S ...

south to

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

and

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. They can often be seen in bogs, meadows and almost anywhere else its host plant occurs. The typical elevations for this species range from 0 to 1,742 feet (531 m). It is listed as a species of special concern and believed

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

in the US state of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Description

The adult is often confused with another member of the same genus, the silvery checkerspot (''

Chlosyne nycteis ''Chlosyne nycteis'', the silvery checkerspot, is a species of Nymphalinae butterfly that occurs in North America. It is listed as a species of special concern in Connecticut and Maine, and is believed extirpated in Connecticut, Massachusetts, a ...

''). The adult's wingspan is 3.6–5.1 cm. The upperside of the wing is orange with black markings. The underside of the wing has a single red-orange stripe and a reddish-orange, white and black marked pattern on the rest of the hindwing.

Life cycle

There is one flight which occurs between June and July. The caterpillar of this species feeds on the flat-topped white aster (''

Aster umbellatus ''Doellingeria umbellata'', known by the common names tall flat-topped white aster, parasol whitetop, or tall white-aster, is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Canada (from Alberta to Newfoundland), St. Pie ...

'') while adults feed on flower nectar. The female lays eggs in a cluster formation under the leaves of its host plants. The caterpillar overwinters during its third

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow o ...

References

*Jim P. Brock,

Kenn Kaufman Kenn Kaufman (born 1954) is an American author, artist, naturalist, and conservationist, known for his work on several popular field guides of birds and butterflies in North America. Born in South Bend, Indiana, Kaufman began birding at the age ...

(2003). ''Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. . Butterflies of North America harrisii Taxa named by Samuel Hubbard Scudder Butterflies described in 1864 {{Nymphalinae-stub