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Oeneis melissa Hübner, [1819]
Arctics; Melissa Arctic
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 #8061)

Map

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Distribution of Oeneis melissa 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

Melissa Arctics are smoky grey to grey brown in colour, and are quite transparent. They lack eyes pots on the dorsal surface, but the ventral hindwings usually have a row of small spots near the wing margin. The ventral hindwing is striated with dark grey, with at most a faint dark band across the middle in southern populations.

Immature Stages

Eggs are subconical, and the base is flattened and rounded, with about 20 vertical ribs. First instar larvae are pale green white, with two very short, stubby tails. Dorsal, subdorsal, and lateral lines are pale brown, the underside is dull white, and feet and legs are translucent whitish. Mature larvae are shades of buff. The dorsal line is grey green, with dark spots edged with white lines between segments; below this, the ground colour is grey buff with blackish longitudinal streaks, and there are two brown dorsolateral lines below that. The lateral band is broad and deep black, and has a light buff line below. The spiracular band is dark grey. The underside, legs, and prolegs are grey buff. The head is green yellow with a brown tint. In pupae in Colorado (subspecies lucilla Barnes & McDunnough, 1918), the back of the head and the thorax are green yellow with a brown tint. The underside of the head and wings is black brown; the abdomen has alternating bands of yellow and brown grey, each of the grey bands finely edged in carmine; and the spiracular band is tinged with carmine (Edwards 1887-97).

Subspecies

Subspecies beanii Elwes, 1893 (TL: Laggan [vicinity Lake Louise], AB) occurs in southern and central BC from Vancouver Island to the Rockies, and south through the Rockies to Wyoming. The underside of the hindwings is an even mottled grey, with only an indistinct median band. The northwestern BC populations have traditionally been called subspecies gibsoni Holland, 1931 (TL: Bethel, Kuskoquim River, AK), from which they differ significantly. We provide a new subspecies name here.

Oeneis melissa atlinensis Guppy & Shepard, new subspecies. Oeneis melissa atlinensis has a clearly defined median band, and grey and white checkered wing fringes and costal margin, that distinguish it from subspecies beanii. Males have little or no dark marginal ventral hindwing markings, which are characteristic of subspecies gibsoni. When dark marginal markings are present, they are much smaller and paler than in gibsoni. The ventral hindwing veins are greyish, rather than white as in gibsoni. In females the dark medial band on the ventral hindwing is more distinct than in subspecies gibsoni. Types. Holotype: male, BC, Atlin, Mt. Vaughan, el. 5,200+ ft., 28 July 1976, C.S. Guppy; a label "HOLOTYPE / Oeneis melissa / atlinensis Guppy & Shepard" is attached. The holotype is deposited in the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC, CAN. Paratypes: 8 males, 2 females, same data as holotype (CSG); 1 male, Atlin, Mt. Vaughan summit, el. 1,900 m, 25 June 1999, e.S. Guppy (CSG); 1 male, BC, Boulder Cr., 12 mi. E Atlin, 6,000', 20 June 1973, Jon H. Shepard (JHS); 11 males, 8 females, YT, Montana Mt., near Carcross, el. 6,500', 16 June 1989, J. and S. Shepard (JHS); 1 female, same locality, 17 June 1989 (JH5); 1 female, 7 July 1989 (JHS).

Genus Description


The name Oeneis refers to Oeneus, king of the ancient city of Calydon in western Greece, husband of Althaea and father of Meleagr and Tydeus. The name of the European genus Melanargia is derived from Meleagr, and another species of Satyrinae was derived from Tydeus. The common name "arctics" was first used by Holland (1898) in reference to the arctic and alpine distribution of many species.

Arctics are medium-sized brown or grey butterflies. They usually have eyespots on the wings. They fly rapidly and erratically over short distances, and then drop suddenly to the ground or onto a tree trunk. Arctics all have a two-year life cycle, with the young larvae hibernating the first winter and the almost mature larvae hibernating the second winter. The two-year life cycle results in many species having adults in flight only every second year, with butterflies in alternate years being greatly reduced in abundance or missing entirely in some or all areas.

Eggs are white or off-white in colour, and are conical in shape, with vertical ribs down the side. First instar larvae are thinly covered with hairs, and are tan or greenish. Mature larvae are slender and are tan or greenish with longitudinal stripes of various colours down the back and sides. They are thinly covered with hairs that are frequently reddish in colour. Pupae are roughly cylindrical and rounded, and have brown,yellow brown, and olive markings. Descriptions of the immature stages are all from outside BC, with the exception of the Great Arctic.

Larval foodplants are usually grasses and sedges. One species, the Jutta Arctic, also feeds on rushes. Eggs are laid singly on leaves of the foodplant, or nearby on dead leaves or debris. The foodplants naturally utilized in BC are not known for any species; the little information that is available is from Manitoba, Alberta, or the American Rocky Mountains.

Arctics fall into three basic ecological groups (Masters 1969): forest-dwelling species (macounii, nevadensis, jutta); prairie and steppe species (uhleri, chryxus, alberta); and arctic taiga-tundra/alpine summit species (bore, melissa, polixenes). Oeneis bore and polixenes can sometimes be difficult to identify by wing pattern alone, but the valves of the male genitalia are distinctly different. Oeneis rosovi is also difficult to distinguish from O. polixenes, but there are no genitalic differences between the two species.

Biology


Melissa Arctics are in flight in July and August in southern alpine areas, and in June and July in northern alpine areas. They are in flight every year, but have a two-year life cycle. They are challenging to closely observe or capture, as Phair (1919) discovered on the summit of Mt. McLean in Lillooet: "The underside is exactly the colour of the moss or lichen-covered rocks, and when they alight they turn over on their sides, but they are on the alert, and one does well to get within ten feet. When they start they rise high in the air and are off down the mountain several hundred feet." Larvae feed at night, and they pupate under or between rocks. They hibernate in the first instar, and then again as mature larvae (Scudder 1889a).

Larval foodplants are unknown for BC. Subspecies semidea uses Carex bigelowii on Mt. Washington, ME (Scudder 1889a) . Larvae feed on the grass Poa pratensis in the lab (Scott 1992). Grasses and sedges, Carex and Deschampsia caespitosa ssp. glauco, are used in Asia (Tuzov 1997).

Habitat


Melissa Arctics occur in northwestern BC and in alpine habitat in the coastal mountains and the Rocky Mountains of BC. There is one record from Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. They inhabit dry alpine rock rubble slopes and rocky alpine tundra.

Distribution

Distribution

Melissa Arctics are found from Siberia across arctic North America to Labrador. They occur in most of the mountainous areas of BC and AB; isolated colonies occur in the Rocky Mountains as far south as NM.

Status Information

Scientific NameOrigin StatusProvincial StatusBC List
(Red Blue List)		COSEWIC
Oeneis melissaNativeS5YellowNot Listed
Oeneis melissa atlinensisNativeS5YellowNot Listed
Oeneis melissa beaniiNativeS5YellowNot Listed



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