Cercyonis sthenele explained

Cercyonis sthenele, the Great Basin wood-nymph, is a North American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.

Description

It is dark brown with two eyespots on the forewing with the upper larger than the lower.^[1]

The wingspan measures 39-. Its flight period is from late June to late August. It is found in arid woodland, especially pinyon-juniper, chaparral and brushland habitats.^[2]

Similar species

• Common wood-nymph (Cercyonis pegala) – larger, eyespots similar in size
• Small wood-nymph (Cercyonis oetus) – lacks lower eyespot in males, lower eyespot is closer to margin than upper eyespot in females

Subspecies

The following subspecies are recognised:^[3]

• C. s. behrii (F. Grinnell, 1905)
• C. s. hypoleuca Hawks and J. Emmel, 1998
• C. s. masoni Cross, 1937
• C. s. paulus (Edwards, 1879)
• C. s. silvestris Edwards, 1861
• C. s. sineocellata Austin and J. Emmel in T. Emmel, 1998
• C. s. sthenele (Boisduval, 1852) - nominate subspecies endemic to San Francisco Peninsula, now extinct^{[4] [5]}

Distribution

C. sthenele ranges over much of the western United States and reaches to southern British Columbia, Canada.

Larval host plants

Larvae feed on various species of grass. The first instar hibernates.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Book: Brock . Jim P. . Kaufman . Kenn . Butterflies of North America . 2003 . Houghton Mifflin . New York, NY . 0-618-15312-8 .
2. Web site: Cercyonis sthenele. explorer.natureserve.org.
3. http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/nymphalidae/satyrinae/cercyonis/ "Cercyonis Scudder, 1875"
4. Web site: ITIS Report: Cercyonis sthenele sthenele (Boisduval, 1852). . ITIS . 10 July 2023.
5. Web site: Cercyonis sthenele sthenele. NatureServe Explorer 2.0 . explorer.natureserve.org . 10 July 2023.
6. Web site: Great Basin Wood-nymph . Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility . 2002 . 18 October 2010.