Arachne Checkerspot - Hodges#4514
Poladryas arachne
This record describes Poladryas arachne (species). Recorded family: Nymphalidae. Recorded order: Lepidoptera.
Identification and Appearance
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
- Superfamily
- Papilionoidea
- Family
- Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)
- Subfamily
- Nymphalinae
- Tribe
- Melitaeini
- Genus
- Poladryas (Checkerspots)
Imported taxonomy record. Source availability varies; see the source references and editorial policy below.
Habitat and Range
Geographic Range
W. Nebraska & ne. Colorado to California and southward through w. New Mexico and Arizona into northern Mexico. Not known to occur with P. minuta , but comes close and may meet somewhere along eastern edge of range in Colorado, New Mexico, and/or Mexico.
Additional species information
Species notes from the sources
Etymology: Currently treated by many authors as a species separate from P. minuta, but treated by others as a subspecies of [i]P. minuta . P. minuta & arachne have been shown to be interfertile when cross-bred by James Scott (1992).
About Butterflies and Moths: the wider group
Order-level background for Lepidoptera, the group containing Poladryas arachne. Species-specific details appear above.
Group overview
Lepidoptera includes approximately 180,000 described species of butterflies and moths. Moths outnumber butterflies roughly 10:1. The monarch butterfly's eastern population has declined by more than 80% since the mid-1990s, and the western population by over 95% since the 1980s. The IUCN lists the migratory monarch as Vulnerable.
Ecological role of the group
Butterflies and moths are essential indicators of ecosystem health. As caterpillars, they are a primary food source for birds - a single nest of blue tit chicks requires ~10,000 caterpillars. Adult moths pollinate many night-blooming plants.
Economic and practical significance of the group
Lepidoptera are critical pollinators. In Europe, grassland butterfly species have declined by almost 50% since the early 1990s. In the UK, three-quarters of butterflies are in decline. In the U.S., five butterfly species have gone extinct since 1950, with 29 listed as endangered.
Recorded sources for this group: IUCN Red List, Xerces Society, USFWS, PNAS, WWF. Imported estimates may describe particular regions or reporting periods.
Photos of Arachne Checkerspot - Hodges#4514 (5)
Photo credits: Contributed by tom murray; Additional contributions by Steve Nanz , David Ferguson