''Chlosyne harrisii'', or Harris's checkerspot, is a member of the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

that is found in North America. They range from the Canadian

Atlantic provinces Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

, excluding

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, to Manitoba and North Dakota south to West Virginia and Ohio. They can often be seen in bogs, meadows and almost anywhere else its host plant occurs. The typical elevations for this species range from 0 to 1,742 feet (531 m). It is listed as a species of special concern and believed extirpated in the US state of Connecticut.

Description

The adult is often confused with another member of the same genus, the silvery checkerspot (''

Chlosyne nycteis ''Chlosyne nycteis'', the silvery checkerspot, is a species of Nymphalinae butterfly that occurs in North America. It is listed as a species of special concern in Connecticut and Maine, and is believed extirpated in Connecticut, Massachusetts, a ...

''). The adult's wingspan is 3.6–5.1 cm. The upperside of the wing is orange with black markings. The underside of the wing has a single red-orange stripe and a reddish-orange, white and black marked pattern on the rest of the hindwing.

Life cycle

There is one flight which occurs between June and July. The caterpillar of this species feeds on the flat-topped white aster (''

Aster umbellatus ''Doellingeria umbellata'', known by the common names tall flat-topped white aster, parasol whitetop, or tall white-aster, is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Canada (from Alberta to Newfoundland), St. Pier ...

'') while adults feed on flower

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

. The female lays eggs in a cluster formation under the leaves of its host plants. The caterpillar overwinters during its third instar.

References

*Jim P. Brock, Kenn Kaufman (2003). ''Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. . Butterflies of North America harrisii Taxa named by Samuel Hubbard Scudder Butterflies described in 1864 {{Nymphalinae-stub