Dotted Checkerspot (Poladryas minuta [W. H. Edwards])
Wing span: 1 1/4 - 1 7/8 inches (3.2 - 4.8 cm).
Identification: Upperside bright red-orange with submarginal band of small crescents. Underside orange. Hindwing outer margin with row of white spots and then a row of white crescents bordered with black. White median band has 2 rows of black spots.
Life history: Males perch on low plants in ridgetop openings during the morning hours; in the afternoons they patrol around flowers. Females lay eggs in batches on the underside of host plant leaves. Caterpillars eat leaves and feed together in groups when they are young. Hibernation is by the third-stage caterpillars.
Flight: Several flights from January-September.
Caterpillar hosts: Various beardtongues (Penstemon species) in the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae).
Adult food: Nectar from flowers including yellow composites.
Habitat: Foothill ridges and limestone ridges in mesquite woodland.
Range: South-central Texas and eastern New Mexico south to southern Mexico (population minuta). Western Nebraska; southeast Wyoming; eastern Nevada south through the Rocky Mountains to Arizona, New Mexico, west Texas, and southern Mexico. Isolated population in the southern Sierra Nevada of California (population arachne)
