Oeneis alpina

Oeneis alpina, the sentinel Arctic[3] or Eskimo Arctic, is a species of butterfly in the subfamily Satyrinae. It occurs in Siberia and the northern parts of North America.

Sentinel Arctic
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Nymphalidae
Genus:
Oeneis
Species:
O. alpina
Binomial name
Oeneis alpina
Kurentzov, 1970[1]
Subspecies
  • O. a. alpina
  • O. a. execubitor[2]
Synonyms
  • Oeneis excubitor Troubridge, Philip, Scott & Shepard, 1982

Description

The wing span of O. alpina is about forty millimetres. The wings are orangish-brown, with the base two thirds a much darker shade. The forewing has one to three eyespots with white centres and the hindwing has two. The underside of the wings also have these eyespots, and the underside of the hindwing is mottled with brown and grey streaks. The female is a little larger than the male with the basal region of the wing a paler shade. This species resembles the brown Arctic (Oeneis chryxus) but the latter has a single eyespot on its hindwing.[4]

Distribution

O. alpina occurs in north east Siberia, in the Chukot and Magadan regions, and the tundra regions of Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. It is generally uncommon but occasionally abundant locally.[5]

Reproduction

There is a single brood per year in June and July. The males congregate on hilltops, screes and rocky places in tundra regions and the females fly to join them. After mating, the females return to wet boggy land where they deposit their eggs on or near their host plants which are believed to be grasses, (Poa species). Little is known of the development of the larvae, but it is assumed that they overwinter twice before maturing as the butterflies are locally abundant only in alternate years.[6]

Subspecies
  • Oeneis alpina alpina (Magadan, Chukot Peninsula)
  • Oeneis alpina execubitor Troubridge, Philip, Scott & Shepard, 1982 (northern Yukon, Northwest Territories, northern Alaska)

Similar species

Chryxus Arctic (O. chryxus)

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References
  1. Oeneis alpina, ITIS
  2. "Oeneis Hübner, [1819]" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. Sentinel Arctic, Butterflies of Canada
  4. Scott, J.A. (1986). The Butterflies of North America: A Natural History and Field Guide. Stanford, CA:Stanford University Press. 583 pp.
  5. Layberry, R.A., P.W. Hall and J.D. Lafontaine. (1998). The Butterflies of Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 280 pp. + color plates.
  6. Alaska Department of Food and Game
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