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Oeneis alberta Hübner, [1819]
Alberta Arctic; Arctics
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 #4944)

Map

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Distribution of Oeneis alberta 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

Alberta Arctics, the smallest of the arctics, are light brown or grey brown butterflies. They usually have several eyespots on the dorsal forewing, and none or one on the hindwing. The ventral hindwing has an irregular band with dark edges across the middle. A dark line crossing the ventral forewing juts out sharply towards the wing margin about one-third of the way back from the front edge of the wing. The wings are thin, with the underside markings visible from the upperside.

Immature Stages

Eggs from Alberta are barrel-shaped and grey white; they have 19-20 vertical ribs. First instar larvae have only two slightly conical projections for tails. They are grey white with pale brown longitudinal stripes; the basal ridge is white; the underside, legs, and prolegs are translucent white; and the head is yellow green with a tint of brown. Mature larvae have two short, blunt tails, and are dark brown. The dorsal stripe is black and edged with narrow yellow and white lines; the lateral band is black on a green ground colour and with a pale brown line along the lower edge; the spiracular band is green and speckled with black; and the basal ridge is brown. The underside, legs, and prolegs are white. The head is brown green. The pupa has a green grey thorax and head. The wings are dark olive green with lighter veins, and the abdomen is yellow brown with longitudinal rows of blackish dots and dashes (Edwards 1887-97).

Subspecies

The nominate subspecies, O.a. alberta Elwes, 1893; TL: restricted to Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB (Kondla 1996), occurs in BC.

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


Alberta Arctics are in flight in May and June, and probably fly every year. A two-year life cycle has not been confirmed for this species. A partial second flight may occur in some years in the American Rocky Mountains (Ferris and Brown 1981). The larval foodplant is unknown, but is likely the bunchgrass Festuca idahoensis in Colorado (Scott 1992).

Habitat


Alberta Arctics are known in BC only from the Peace River near the AB border. They inhabit dry bunchgrass hillsides.

Distribution

Distribution

Alberta Arctics are found from the Peace River in BC south along the dry areas of the Rockies to AZ and NM, and east to MB.

Status Information

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



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