Photograph courtest of J.D. Lafontaine
Taiga Alpine (Erebia mancinus Doubleday and Hewitson)
Wing span: 1 5/8 - 1 3/4 inches (4.1 - 4.5 cm).
Identification: Upperside is brown-black; forewing has 4 submarginal black spots surrounded by yellow-orange. Underside is gray-brown; forewing is reddish with 4-5 black submarginal spots; hindwing with conspicuous white spot beyond the end of the cell.
Life history: Adults are active in the mornings and evenings, and commonly rest on trees.
Flight: One brood every other year from late May-early July in most of its range; every year in some locations.
Caterpillar hosts: Probably sedges or grasses.
Adult food: Not reported.
Habitat: Black spruce-sphagnum bogs.
Range: Holarctic. Subarctic Alaska and Canada east and south across Canada to east-central Ontario and northern Minnesota. Isolated records from northern Quebec and Labrador.
