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Phyciodes batesii Hübner, [1819]
Crescents; Tawny Crescent
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

© Libby & Rick Avis     (Photo ID #64116)

Map

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Distribution of Phyciodes batesii 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

In the Tawny Crescent, the crescent spot of the ventral hindwing margin is the same colour as the overall ground colour, as opposed to the Pearl Crescent, which appears similar but which has a white crescent in females and in which the crescent is obscured by a continuous purple flush in males. The tips of the antennae are black in the Tawny Crescent and black and orange in the Pearl Crescent in BC.

Immature Stages

Eggs are laid in batches and the larvae are gregarious in a web during the first two instars.

Subspecies

Scott has recently described the Lakota Crescent, P.b. lakota Scott, 1994 (TL: Pine Ridge, NE). This subspecies ranges from NE north to western ON and across the prairie to the Peace River region of BC.

Genus Description


The name Phyciodes may come from the Greek phykos (painted or "covered with cosmetics"), in reference to the complex ventral wing pattern. The common name "crescents" (Gosse 1840) refers to the crescent-shaped spot in the centre of the ventral hindwing margin.

Phyciodes in the limited sense used here is separated from the Neotropical genera Anthanassa Scudder and Eresis Boisduval by the presence of two to four in-curved hooks on the posterior tip of the tegumen of the male genitalia. The saccus is present in the male genitalia. The genus is Nearctic and contains nine species. The larvae of BC species feed on asters (Aster) or thistles (Cirsium).

Biology


Adults fly in a single brood from late June to late July in the Peace River area. The species overwinters as a third instar larva (Bird et al. 1995). The Tawny Crescent feeds on native asters.

Habitat


The Tawny Crescent is found on the Liard River Road and the Peace River from Attachie east to the AB border. It is found in mature, open aspen woodland and adjacent mesic meadows.

Distribution

Distribution

The Tawny Crescent is found from northeast BC across Canada to NF and south to western NE and the Appalachians in isolated colonies to northern GA. In the west, it is known from the Bighorn Mountains of WY and from Carbon Co., WY, south to AZ in disjunct populations.

Status Information

Origin StatusProvincial StatusBC List
(Red Blue List)		COSEWIC
NativeS3BlueNot Listed



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