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Melissa Arctic - Oeneis melissa
General Description
[From Ferris and Brown 1981; Scott 1986; Opler and Wright 1999; Glassberg 2001; Pyle 2002] Forewing 2.4-2.7 cm. Wings translucent, overall appearance black to brownish, wing fringes often checkered; area of hindwing greater than area of forewing. Uppersurface gray-brown, lacking eyespots or faint if evident. Undersurface of hindwing tightly mottled black and gray, basal and postmedian lines lacking or faint with white outlines.
Phenology
One flight; mostly July, mid-July to mid-August in Alberta, mid-June to July in the Arctic, early to mid-August in Wyoming (Scott 1986); late June to early August (Glassberg 2001); mid-July to mid-August in Washington (Pyle 2002); late June to late July in British Columbia (Threatful 1988); June to July in northern alpine areas and July to August in southern alpine areas of British Columbia (Guppy and Shepard 2001).
Diagnostic Characteristics
Best determined by a combination of slightly transluscent wings lacking eyespots (faint if present), the undersurface of the hindwing tightly mottled black and white, the basal and postmedian lines absent (or weak and bordered by white).
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Range Comments
Holarctic. In North America, Arctic Alaska east to Baffin Island and Labrador, south in the west in discontinuous populations to northern Washington in the Cascade Range, northern New Mexico in the Rocky Mountains, south in the east to the Appalachian Mountains of New Hampshire (Scott 1986; Opler and Wright 1999; Glassberg 2001; Pyle 2002); 3350 m to 4270 m elevation in Colorado (Brown 1957; Ferris and Brown 1981), 3050 m to at least 3350 m elevation in Wyoming (Ferris and Brown 1981), above 2135 m elevation in Washington (Pyle 2002), 2134 m to 2732 m elevation in British Columbia (Threatful 1988). In Montana, reported from Glacier, Carbon, and Stillwater counties (Kohler 1980; Stanford and Opler 1993), most recently (2013) Sweet Grass County, above treeline to at least 3350 m elevation in the Beartooth Mountains (Ferris 1975). Uncommon to common (Glassberg 2001).
Migration
Non-migratory.
Habitat
Above treeline in dry alpine tundra, talus slopes, wind-swept rocky or short grass ridgetops, fellfield; also arctic dry tundra (Ferris and Brown 1981; Scott 1986; Threatful 1988; Pyle 2002). Not described for Montana, but probably similar.
National Vegetation Classification System Groups Associated with this Species
Alpine
Alpine - Sparse and Barren
Alpine - Vegetated
Wetland and Riparian
Alpine Riparian and Wetland
Peatland
Wet Meadow and Marsh
Food Habits
Limited information. Larval food plants include a few species of Carex in nature, Poa in captivity, Deschampsia in Asia (Scott 1986, 1992; Guppy and Shepard 2001; Pyle 2002). Adult foods apparently unknown or not reported; rarely feeds on flower nectar (Scott 1986, 2014).
Reproductive Characteristics
Limited information. Females lay eggs on or near host plant, in litter, and on rocks. Caterpillars feed at night on leaves. Two years are required to complete development; hibernates the first winter as L2 or L3 instar, the second winter as L5; , pupates under mosses, rocks, or partly in the soil (Scott 1986, 1992). Males perch and patrol throughout the day in rocky areas (rocky ridge tops, rockslides, rock chutes on hillsides) in search of females (Scott 1975b, 1982, 1986).
Stewardship Responsibility
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication
Brown, F.M. 1957. Colorado Butterflies. Proceedings; Numbers Three through Seven. Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, Co.- Ferris, C.D. 1975. A note on Oeneis melissa (Fabricius) in the western United States (Satyridae). Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 14: 213-215.
- Ferris, C.D. and F.M. Brown (eds). 1981. Butterflies of the Rocky Mountains. Univ. of Oklahoma Press. Norman. 442 pp.
- Glassberg, J. 2001. Butterflies through Binoculars: A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Western North America. Oxford University Press.
- Guppy, C.S. and J.H. Shepard. 2001. Butterflies of British Columbia: including western Alberta, southern Yukon, the Alaska Panhandle, Washington, northern Oregon, northern Idaho, northwestern Montana. UBC Press (Vancouver, BC) and Royal British Columbia Museum (Victoria, BC). 414 pp.
- Kohler, S. 1980. Checklist of Montana Butterflies (Rhopalocera). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 34(1): 1-19.
- Opler, P.A. and A.B. Wright. 1999. A field guide to western butterflies. Second edition. Peterson Field Guides. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 540 pp.
- Powell, J.A. and P.A. Opler. 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. 369 pp.
- Pyle, R.M. 2002. The butterflies of Cascadia: a field guide to all the species of Washington, Oregon, and surrounding territories. Seattle Audubon Society, Seattle, Washington. 420 pp.
- Scott, J.A. 1975b. Mate-locating behavior of western North American butterflies. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 14:1-40.
- Scott, J.A. 1982. Mate-locating behavior of western North American butterflies. II. New observations and morphological adaptations. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 21(3): 177-187.
- Scott, J.A. 1986. The butterflies of North America: a natural history and field guide. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
- Scott, J.A. 1992. Hostplant records for butterflies and skippers (mostly from Colorado) 1959-1992, with new life histories and notes on oviposition, immatures, and ecology. Papilio new series #6. 185 p.
- Scott, J.A. 2014. Lepidoptera of North America 13. Flower visitation by Colorado butterflies (40,615 records) with a review of the literature on pollination of Colorado plants and butterfly attraction (Lepidoptera: Hersperioidea and Papilionoidea). Contributions of the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthopod Diversity. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University. 190 p.
- Stanford, R.E. and P.A. Opler. 1993. Atlas of western USA butterflies: including adjacent parts of Canada and Mexico. Unpubl. Report. Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado 275 pp.
- Threatful, D.L. 1988. A list of the butterflies and skippers of Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks, British Columbia, Canada (Lepidoptera). Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 27(3-4): 213-221.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Allen, T.J., J.P. Brock, and J. Glassberg. 2005. Caterpillars in the field and garden: a field guide to the butterfly caterpillars of North America. Oxford University Press.
- Brock, J.P. and K. Kaufman. 2003. Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY 284 pp.
- Forister, M.L., C.A. Halsch, C.C. Nice, J.A. Fordyce, T.E. Dilts, J.C. Oliver, K.L. Prudic, A.M. Shapiro, J.K. Wilson, J. Glassberg. 2021. Fewer butterflies seen by community scientists across the warming and drying landscapes of the American West. Science 371:1042-1045.
- Forister, M.L., E.M. Grames, C.A. Halsch, K.J. Burls, C.F. Carroll, K.L. Bell, J.P. Jahner, et al. 2023. Assessing risk for butterflies in the context of climate change, demographic uncertainty, and heterogeneous data sources. Ecological Monographs 93(3):e1584. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1584
- Garth, J.S. and J.W. Tilden. 1963. Yosemite butterflies: an ecological survey of the butterflies of the Yosemite sector of the Sierra Nevada, California. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 2: 1-96.
- Layberry, R.A., P.W. Hall, and J.D. LaFontaine. 1998. The Butterflies of Canada. University of Toronto Press. 280 pp. + color plates.
- Scott, J.A. and G.R. Scott. 1978. Ecology and distribution of the butterflies of southern central Colorado. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 17(2): 73-128.
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