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Butterfly populations are a very good indicator of the health of an area's ecosystem !!
Image provided by Mexican
photographer Pedro Montes Campos
    Dotted Checkerspots have several flights from January to September.
   
Their preferred habitat includes foothill ridges, grasslands and open mountain meadows.
   They are a monotypic genus of butterflies from United States and Central America, and are in the family Nymphalidae.
   The single species this genus contains is Poladryas minuta, the Dotted Checkerspot.
    Males perch on low plants on ridgetop openings during the morning hours. In the afternoons they patrol around flowers. Females lay eggs in batches on the underside of host plant leaves.
   Caterpillars eat leaves and feed together in groups when they are young.
   Hibernation is by the third-stage caterpillars.
    Dorsal sides are bright red orange with submarginal band of small crescents.
   Ventral sides are orange.
   Hindwings have an outer margin with row a of white spots and then a row of white crescents bordered with black.
   The white median band has a thin black line or 2 rows of black spots.
Dotted Checkerspot.png
Diet: caterpillar live and feed on various Beardtongues (Penstemon species) in the Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae).
Diet: adults take nectar from flowers including yellow composites.
Wingspan: 3.2 - 4.8 cm. / 1 1/4 - 1 7/8"
 Family: Nymphalidae.
Dotted Checkerspot caterpillar
The single biggest threat to butterfly survival is habitat destruction!!
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