The Endangered Laguna Mountain Skipper Butterfly

A brief overview for the life cycle of the endangered Laguna Mountain Skipper butterfly. For more information, visit http://www.QuinoCheckerspot.com

The Laguna Mountain Skipper is one of the rarest butterflies in southern California. It was thought to exist only in the Laguna Mountains, but was found in the mid-1980s at Palomar Mountain.

Females lay their small white-colored eggs singly on the underside of the larger leaves of their food plants. These eggs hatch about nine days later. This egg was laid on Horkelia.

Immediately after hatching the larvae form single homes on their food plants by cutting part way through a leaf and folding it over. The folded leaf is usually secured by silk at several locations.

The larvae go through five instars and each instar takes about seven days. The larva has a very dark head capsule and a characteristic narrow neck. This narrow neck is often a diagnostic feature for identifying most skipper larvae. The larvae then pupate and about two weeks later form the second brood for the species. Some pupae, rather than hatching, immediately enter diapause.

This checkered skipper species diapauses as a chrysalis. The larva forms a silken shelter, probably within dried leaves in the leaf litter, and pupates. This chrysalis remains in diapause through the remaining summer and through the cold winter. Diapause in the chrysalis is broken by warming conditions in the spring and perhaps by an increase of day length. It is thought that the chrysalis can diapause multiple years based on studies of this butterfly.

This picture shows a freshly pupated chrysalis of a closely related skipper. The chrysalis will turn brown as it develops.

No in-depth mating studies have yet been done on this species.

These skippers appear to favor yellow flowers, particularly yellow composites. Yellow buttercups are also used as a nectar source. During the second brood the Horkelia food plant is used as a nectar source.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• endangered
• laguna
• mountain
• skipper
• butterfly