''Phyciodes orseis'', the Orseis crescentspot or California crescent, is a species of

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 ...

in 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, particularly

northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Formerly, The range was thought to extend along the Coast Range as far south as

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. However, they were either mislabeled or are currently

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

from these regions. The habitat consists of mountain valleys, meadows and stream canyons. Along with roughly 120 other species, they are check-listed as butterflies occurring on or near the Fremont-Winema National Forests. This checklist has been established based on observations throughout

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

and Klamath counties in Oregon. The list is maintained by the Forest Service in order to monitor health of native ecosystems. Monitoring population levels of butterflies such as ''P. orseis'' over time provides a metric for these efforts. These pollinators play an integral role in such systems, as they are beneficial both for the flora of the region and as food sources for regional avian species. 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 32–42 mm.Butterflies and Moths of North America
/ref> Adult flights occur annually, typically from mid-May to the end of June. Eggs are laid in large clusters on host plants, which are typically of the genus ''

Cirsium ''Cirsium'' is a genus of Perennial plant, perennial and Biennial plant, biennial flowering plants in the Asteraceae, one of several genera known commonly as thistles. They are more precisely known as plume thistles. These differ from other thist ...

'' (family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

). After hatching, specimens will overwinter as a third

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

larva.

Subspecies

*''Phyciodes orseis orseis'' *''Phyciodes orseis herlani'' Bauer, 1975 (California, Nevada: Douglas Co.)

References

External links

Species ''Phyciodes orseis'' - California Crescent
BugGuide Butterflies described in 1871 Melitaeini Butterflies of North America Taxa named by William Henry Edwards Lepidoptera of the United States {{Nymphalinae-stub

Subspecies

See also

References

External links