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Oeneis uhleri varuna Hübner, [1819]
Arctics; Uhler's Arctic
Family: Nymphalidae (Brushfoots)
Species account authors: Crispin Guppy and Jon Shepard.
Extracted from Butterflies of British Columbia.
Introduction to the Butterflies of BC
The Families of Lepidoptera of BC

Photograph

© Norbert Kondla     (Photo ID #6984)

Map

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Distribution of Oeneis uhleri varuna 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

Uhler's Arctics are small golden brown butterflies. They usually have several eyespots on the dorsal forewing, and also 1-3 eyespots on the dorsal hindwing. The ventral hindwing is coloured with white and brown striations. The band across the middle of the ventral hindwing is pale or missing, and is not visible from the upperside. There is no dark angular line crossing the ventral forewing.

Immature Stages

Eggs of subspecies varuna are conical, with 20-24 vertical ribs; they are white. First instar larvae are grey green with two short subconical tails. The dorsal and subdorsal lines are pale brown; the lateral stripe is grey green on the thorax and pale brown on the abdomen; and the underside, legs, and prolegs are green white. Mature larvae have two short subconical tails. The colour is highly variable, with some being white buff with green stripes, others yellow buff with black and green stripes, and still others green with black stripes. All the colour forms have reddish streaks. Pupae are green yellow with tints of brown (Edwards 1887-97).

Subspecies

The subspecies of Uhler's Arctic found in BC is O.u. varuna (W.H. Edwards, 1882) (TL: "plains of Dakotah Terr. on the way to Montana, elevation about 1200 feet").

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


Uhler's Arctics are in flight in June and July, and in some areas fly only in alternate years. There are two flight periods during one summer at some sites in the Alberta (CSG) and Colorado Rocky Mountains (Edwards 1887-97; Ferris and Brown 1981). Males establish territories along slope breaks in grasslands, and periodically fly up and flutter in fixed positions for a minute or so, apparently scanning the slope below for females (Masters and Sorensen 1969). Females are most active in the afternoon (Bird et al. 1995). Eggs are laid on or near the tip of grass blades. They hatch in about 20 days, and larvae hibernate in the third (Bird et al. 1995) or fourth instar (Ferris and Brown 1981). Pupation occurs in loose soil (Edwards 1887-97). Natural larval foodplants are unknown, but the larvae feed on grass in captivity. Grasses in the genera Festuca, Kaeleria, and Poa may be larval foodplants (Scott 1992), but are unproven.

Habitat


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

Distribution

Distribution

Uhler's Arctics are found in YT, and from the Peace River south and east to southern MB and south to NM and SD.

Status Information

Origin StatusProvincial StatusBC List
(Red Blue List)
COSEWIC
UnlistedUnlistedUnlistedUnlisted



BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer--the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.

General References