''Erebia callias'', the Colorado alpine, is a member of the

Satyridae The Satyrinae, the satyrines or satyrids, commonly known as the browns, are a subfamily of the Nymphalidae (brush-footed butterflies). They were formerly considered a distinct family, Satyridae. This group contains nearly half of the known dive ...

subfamily of the

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 ...

butterflies. It is found in alpine areas of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in the U.S.

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

as well as various mountain ranges in eastern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...

is 35–38 mm. The upperside is dull gray brown with a slight luster. Two eyespots are near the tip both above and below on the forewing. These are usually located in a red patch. The underside of the hindwing is silver gray with very small dark markings. The larvae probably feed on grasses and sedges. Its habitats include alpine tundra and arctic-alpine meadows.

Subspecies

*''Erebia callias callias'' (Rocky Mountains) *''Erebia callias sibirica'' Staudinger, 1881 (

Saur Saur may refer to: * Saur (company) a French utility company * Saur (restaurant), Michelin starred restaurant in The Hague, Netherlands * Dog king - a Scandinavian tradition * Saur 1 - an APC developed by ROMARM * K. G. Saur Verlag, German publ ...

and

Tarbagatai Mountains The Tarbagatai Mountains ( mn, , , translit. ''Tarvagatai nuruu'', literally: "range with marmots"; ; kk, Тарбағатай жотасы, ''Tarbağatai jotasy'') are a range of mountains located in the north-western parts of Xinjiang, China, ...

) *''Erebia callias altajana'' Staudinger, 1901 (Altai Mountains) *''Erebia callias simulata'' Warren, 1933 (Sayan Mountains) *''Erebia callias tsherskiensis'' Dubatolov, 1992 (Far East)

Taxonomy

''Erebia callias'' has been lumped with the Siberian brassy ringlets as they are almost alike morphologically. Though one might suspect stronger differentiation and perhaps marked cryptic speciation across the wide range, the Rocky Mountains population is apparently a very recent isolate. Its ancestors apparently crossed over the Bering Strait at the end of the

Wisconsinian glaciation The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cord ...

, about 15,000 to 10,000 years ago.

References

External links

Butterflies and Moths of North America
Erebia Butterflies described in 1871 Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of North America Taxa named by William Henry Edwards {{Satyrini-stub