Gabb's Checkerspot Butterfly
Photo by Pat Brown
  Home Visiting the Forest and how to get there What's in the Forest and how it got there Conservation in the Forest Flora and Fauna of the Forest Library of Forest Info Forest Store
 

 

Butterflies of the Elfin Forest (and Moths)

Common Name Scientific Name Size   Flight   Color   Host/Nectar Plant #  
Acmon Blue Plebejus acmon acmon 1" 5-7 Bl 13 72 120 128 / 72 99
Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon 3" 3-7 Y/Bk 85 / 165 78 63
Behr’s (Mormon) Metalmark   Apodemia mormo virgulti 1" 5-9 O/Bk 72 / 72
Cabbage White Pieris rapae 2" 3-10 W 20 153 / 99
Coastal Bramble Hairstreak   Callophrys dumetorum viridis   1" 3-4 G 72 120 /
Common Ringlet Coenonympha tullia 1.5" 2-9 W 82 83 84 /
Gabb's Checkerspot Chlosyne gabbii 1.5" 4-7 O 96 112 / 79
Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus 1" 5-7 Gr 72 154 125 128 /
Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae 2.5" 1-12 O Not present /
Hedgerow Hairstreak Satyrium saepium 1" 3-7 Br 41 / 150 99 72
Monarch Danaus plexippus 4.5" 10-2 O Not present /
Moro Blue Plebejus icarioides moroensis 1" 5-6 Bl 123 / 120
Orange Sulfur Colias eurytheme 2" 3-10 Bl 13 118 119 120 /
Pacific Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara sara 1.5" 3-4 W/O 20 62 153 /
Pale Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon 3.5" 4-7 W/Bk 41 154 155 150 /
Silvery Blue Glaucopsyche lygdamus 1" 3-5 Bl 120 / 120
Variable Checkerspot Euphydryas chalcedona 2" 4-7 Bk 131 174 / 6 165 78 3 99 63 72
Umber Skipper Poanes melane 1" 5-10 Br 58 / 6
West Coast Lady Vanessa annabella 2" 3-6 O/Bk 125 196 197 / 71 72
Western Pygmy Blue Brephidium exile 0.5" 3-9 Bl 15 16 /
Western Tailed-blue Everes amyntula 1" 5-6 Bl 13 /
Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus 3.5" 2-8 Y/Bk 144 147 162 / 36 49 50 112
California Oak Moth Phryganidia californica 0.5" 6-7 Br 152 / none
Ceanothus Silk Moth Hyalophora euryalus 2.5" 1-7 Br 41 / none
Ctenuchid Moth Ctenucha species 1" 3-7 Br/R Grasses & sedges
Western Tussock Moth Orgyia vetusta 1.3" 5-7 Br/Gr 41 61 72 120 123 152 157
/ ? (female flightless)

Key

 
  Size – The size of the front wing, from base to tip, given in inches.

Flight – the months in which a species is "normally" seen flying in the Elfin Forest. Weather can change these dates.

Host / Nectar Plant:  Plant ID number of host plant (plant larvae feed on) / ID of nectar plant (plant adults drink from) - see below:

  #   Common name
  3 Yarrow
  6 Seaside fiddleneck
13 Pomona milk-vetch
15 Watson's saltbrush
20 Mustards ●●
36 Italian thistle ●●
41 Buck brush
46 California goosefoot
49 Cobwebby thistle
50 Bull thistle ●●
58 Bermuda grass ●●
61 Cape ivy ●●
62 Yellow tansy mustard
63 Blue dicks
71 Mock heather
72 Dune buckwheat
78 Suffrutescent wallflower
79 California poppy
82 Tall fescue ●
83 California fescue
84 Meadow fescue ●
85 Fennel ●●
96 Telegraph weed
        ● = non-native plant
     ●● = invasive non-native plant
  Color – predominant color(s)
       W = white
       Y = yellow
       O = orange
       G = green
       Gr = gray
       Bl = blue
       Br = brown
       Bk = black.


  #    Common name
  99 Wedgeleaf horkelia
112 California aster
118 Birdfoot trefoil ●
119 Rush deerweed
120 Deerweed
123 Silver dune lupine
125 Cheeseweed ●
128 White sweet-clover ●
131 Sticky monkey-flower
144 Sycamore
147 Black cottonwood
150 Hollyleaf cherry
152 Coast live oak
153 Wild radish ●
154 California coffeeberry
155 Redberry
157 California wild rose
162 Arroyo willow
165 Black sage
174 California figwort
196 Stinging nettle
197 Dwarf nettle ●
 


Click this button for MBNEP / California State Park's guide to "The Butterflies of the Estero Bay Area". Good information plus lots of color photographs. File size: 2.8 MB

This and the other guides in this series can be purchased from www.lulu.com if you need a paper copy, but, do not want to print them on your own printer.