Montana Field Guide

The Caradrina montana wingspan is 26 - 31 mm. The forewing is pale gray or brownish-gray with dark reniform and orbicular spots. The reniform spot has white dots around its perimeter. The antemedian and postmedian lines are usually broken into dots. There are 4 or 5 black marks along costa (anterior vein of the wing). The subterminal area may have dark shading. The hindwing is white with a dark-spotted terminal line (Powell and Opler, 2009).

Shropshire and Tallamy (2025) provide a list, with synonymies, of 13,055 described native, exotic, and occasional straying Lepidoptera species of North America, north of Mexico; known but undescribed taxa, taxa with unresolved taxonomy, and excluded species are also included. The main manuscript includes links to supplementary materials, including a reference list for Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, and a filterable spreadsheet with information on taxonomy, synonymy, size ranges of species, distribution by state, province, and country with references, and host-plant Family and Genus associations with references.

Adults fly in summer and early fall. In California it has been reported that adults fly from mid-February through November, and it is very likely they have 3 or 4 generations (Powell and Opler 2009).

C. montana prefers dry open forests (Powell and Opler, 2009).

Shropshire and Tallamy (2025) provide a link to a supplemental filterable spreadsheet with information on host-plant Family and Genus associations with references for all Lepidoptera species of North America, north of Mexico.

C. montana larvae feed on leaves of alfalfa (Medicago sativa), dock (Rumex spp.), hawkweed (Hieracium spp.), plantain (Plantago spp.), and sow-thistle (Sonchus spp.)(Powell and Opler, 2009).