''Apodemia mormo langei'', the Lange's metalmark butterfly, is an

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

. It is a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the Mormon metalmark and belongs to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Riodinidae Riodinidae is the family of metalmark butterflies. The common name "metalmarks" refers to the small, metallic-looking spots commonly found on their wings. The 1532 species are placed in 146 genera. Although mostly Neotropical in distribution, t ...

. The butterfly is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to California, where it is known from one strip of riverbank in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. A 2008 count estimated the total remaining population at 131 individuals.Jones, C
Lange's metalmark butterfly rises in Antioch.
''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' April 10, 2010. Since 2011, this number has dropped to about 25–30.

Description

Lange's metalmark is a fragile, brightly colored butterfly in the Riodinidae (metalmark) family. Adult wingspan varies from to . Dorsal wings are largely black with white spots. Red-orange coloration extends through the inner forward half of the forewing, the hindwing bases, and a small central patch subtended by black. Below, the wings have a more muted pattern of gray, white, black, and orange.

Status and distribution

The butterfly has been classified in the United States as a federal

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

(''

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on feder ...

'' 41:22044; June 1, 1976). Lange's metalmark butterfly was historically restricted to

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

along the southern bank of the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...

, and is currently found only at Antioch Sand Dunes (a misnomer, as the sand was long ago removed and the landscape is now hilly scrub) in

Contra Costa County, California ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

. Most of the habitat is now part of the

Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge is a sensitive sand dune habitat located near the city of Antioch, California on the south shore of the San Joaquin River-Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel. It serves as a refuge for three endangered sp ...

, administered by the

Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (DESFBNWR) is a United States National Wildlife Refuge located in the southern part of San Francisco Bay, California. The Refuge headquarters and visitor center is located in the Baylands dis ...

Complex. Recent population counts have ranged from several hundred to more than a thousand individuals. While the Antioch Dunes Recovery Plan of April 25, 1984, has been put under action, no critical habitat has been designated as yet. In the early 1900s, the isolated dune habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta began to experience a dramatic change as human development expanded. The easily accessible sand was harvested to make bricks. Large-scale

sand mining Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit) but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in conc ...

and industrial development fragmented the sand dune habitat until only a small portion of the original ecosystem remained. Nonnative grasses and other vegetation encroached on the sand dunes to crowd the few remaining endangered plants. By the time the Antioch Dunes Refuge was established, only a few acres of remnant dune habitat supported the last natural populations of Antioch Dunes evening primrose (''Oenothera deltoides'' ssp. ''howellii''),

Contra Costa wallflower ''Erysimum capitatum'' is a species of wallflower known commonly as the sanddune wallflower, western wallflower, or prairie rocket. This species can be found in regions across North America, from the Great Lakes to the West Coast of the United ...

(''Erysimum capitatum'' var. ''angustatum'') and Lange's metalmark. A reservoir of moving sand is essential to maintain the dynamic

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

of the dunes, as moving sand opens areas for the establishment of seedling plants. Roto-tilling has contributed to the invasion of exotic vegetation that stabilizes the remaining sand-dune habitat and competes with native dune vegetation. Habitat improvement activities have included dune restoration, hand clearing of nonnative plant species, planting

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as '' Fago ...

seedlings and restriction of public access to avoid trampling and fire. A nonprofit environmental group has been breeding the butterflies in captivity since 2007 and periodically releasing larvae and adults back to the wild as insurance against collapse of the remaining wild population.

Life history

All the life stages of Lange's metalmark butterflies are found close to the larval food plant,

(''Eriogonum nudum'' ssp. ''psychicola'').U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2019. Recovery Plan for Three Endangered Species Endemic to Antioch Dunes, California: Lange’s metalmark butterfly (Apodemia mormo langei), Oenothera deltoides subsp. howellii (Antioch Dunes evening-primrose), and Erysimum capitatum var. angustatum (Contra Costa wallflower) Draft Amendment 1. Page 5. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. The eggs are deposited on buckwheat leaves near the leaf petiole during a short mating flight of 10 days' duration.

Larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e hatch during the rainy months. Larvae are known to feed only on buckwheat. The adults may use buckwheat, butterweed (''Senecio douglasii'') for nectar. Lange's metalmark butterfly also uses

silver lupine ''Lupinus albifrons'', silver lupine, white-leaf bush lupine, or evergreen lupine, is a species of lupine (lupin). It is native plant, native to California and Oregon, where it grows along the coast and in dry and open meadows, prairies and fores ...

(''Lupinus albifrons'') for mating. Unlike the many butterfly species that have several generations a year, Lange's metalmark has only one. The

fecundity Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the natural capability to pr ...

of wild individuals is low. Detailed life history and physiological requirements of this subspecies are unknown.

Notes

References

* Arnold, R. A. 1980. Ecological studies of 6 endangered butterflies: island biogeography, patch dynamics, and the design of nature preserves. PhD thesis. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, California. * Howe, W. H. (ed.). 1975. The butterflies of North America. Doubleday and Co. Garden City, New York. * Opler, P. A. and J. A. Powell. 1962. Taxonomic and distributional studies on the western components of the ''Apodemia mormo'' complex (Riodinidae). '' Journal of The Lepidopterist's Society''. 15:145–171. * Thelander, C. ed. 1994. Life on the edge: a guide to California's endangered natural resources. BioSystem Books. Santa Cruz, California. p 432–433. * U.C. Berkeley, Essig Museum of Entomology. California's Endangered Insects. * U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 1984. Antioch Dunes Recovery Plan. Portland, Oregon. * Jon Mooallem. Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America. Penguin, 2014. * U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2019. Recovery Plan for Three Endangered Species Endemic to Antioch Dunes, California: Lange's metalmark butterfly (Apodemia mormo langei), Oenothera deltoides subsp. howellii (Antioch Dunes evening-primrose), and Erysimum capitatum var. angustatum (Contra Costa wallflower) Draft Amendment 1. Page 5. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. {{Taxonbar, from=Q4780165 mormo langei Endemic fauna of California Fauna of the San Francisco Bay Area Endangered fauna of California Natural history of Contra Costa County, California Butterflies described in 1938 ESA endangered species Species endangered by habitat fragmentation Butterfly subspecies