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Chlosyne hoffmanni Scudder, 1872
Checkerspots; Hoffman's Checkerspot
Family: Nymphalidae (Brushfoots)
Species account authors: Crispin Guppy and Jon Shepard.
Extracted from Butterflies of British Columbia.
Introduction to the Lepidoptera of BC
Introduction to the Butterflies of BC
The Families of Lepidoptera of BC

Photograph

© Norbert Kondla     (Photo ID #5712)

Map

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Distribution of Chlosyne hoffmanni in British Columbia.
(Click on the map to view a larger version.)
Source: Butterflies of British Columbia by Crispin Guppy and Jon Shepard © Royal BC Museum

Species Information


Adult

Hoffman's Checkerspot is difficult to distinguish from the Northern Checkerspot. On the dorsal hindwing, the median row of light spots is almost white. In Northern Checkerspots this light area is cream to reddish.

Immature Stages

Newcomer (1967a) described the immatures in detail. The egg is light green and 0.6 mm wide. The mature larvae are black with white spots on the uppersides and top. The line above the spiracles is cream, and below that the body is brown. Above the spiracular line the tubercles with numerous branches are black ringed with white at the base. Below the spiracular line, the tubercles are brown. The ground colour of the pupa is pearly white, with an intricate pattern of brown/black markings.

Subspecies

The BC subspecies is the Manchada Checkerspot, C.h. manchada (Bauer, 1960) (TL: Tumwater Cyn., WA). It ranges south from Manning Provincial Park through the Washington Cascades to, but not across, the Columbia River.

Genus Description


The name Charidryas is derived from the Greek chara (joy or delight) and dryas or Dryad (wood nymph) (Emmet 1991). Hence these checkerspots are delightful Dryads. The name "checkerspots" is derived from the checkerboard pattern of the upperside of the wings.

Like the crescents, the Charidryas checkerspots have the saccus present in the male genitalia. The BC species are larger than BC species of crescents except the Pale Crescent, which is as large as Charidryas checkerspots. The coloured spots in the dorsal wing pattern are more orange than those of Phyciodes. The larvae feed on various composites.

Biology


Hoffman's Checkerspot flies from late June to late July in BC. The earliest records on the flight season bar graph are for Washington. Newcomer (1967a) reared Washington populations. Eggs were laid in a mass and early instar larvae were found clustered on the leaves of Aster conspicuus Lindley. They remained clustered and fed until the third instar before hibernating. In mid-May the following year, fourth instar larvae were found feeding individually on the same aster. They began to pupate in late May. The pupal stage lasted only 10 days before adults began to emerge.

Habitat


Hoffman's Checkerspot is known only from the Cascade Mountains in Manning Provincial Park, but should occur east to near Keremeos. Itis found from 1,250 to 1,900 m in meadows associated with dry Douglas-fir habitat.

Distribution

Distribution

The species ranges from Manning Provincial Park, BC, south through the Cascades and Sierras in similar habitat below timberline.

Status Information

Origin StatusProvincial StatusBC List
(Red Blue List)		COSEWIC
NativeS2RedNot Listed



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