Phyciodes mylitta

Phyciodes mylitta is resident to the western United States, into southern British Columbia, and down to southern Mexico and as separate populations in the southwest and in Wyoming (Scott 1986). Habitats are mountains, agricultural fields and towns. Host plants are herbaceous and include many species but mostly in one family, Compositae (also Mimulus guttatus, from family Scrophulariaceae). Eggs are laid on the host plant in large clusters. Individuals overwinter as half-grown larvae. There are multiple flights each year, with approximate flight times Feb.1-Nov. 30 in the southern part of their range and Apr.1-Sept.30 in the northern part of the range (Scott 1986).

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)) Western N. America: British Columbia, Montana south to California, west to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico. Also occurs through Mexico, including Baja California (Comstock, 1927; Emmel and Emmel, 1989; Stanford and Opler, 1993).

The Mylitta Crescent and P. PALLIDA (W.H. Edwards) are quite similar. Generally MYLITTA is smaller of the two and is more lightly marked ventrally. Dorsally, mylitta is uniformly orange-colored, and the black lines normally form contiguous narrow bands. By contrast PALLIDA is normally bicolored dorsally with both orange and yellowish-orange bands. The black markings tend to be bolder (ssp. BARNESI Skinner excepted). Normally the two species can be separated based upon locality alone (Ferris and Brown, 1981)

Comments: Typically the species occurs in various habitats from 6000' to 9000'(1830-2745m). It usually frequents lush meadows and the banks of streams in forested areas (Ferris and Brown, 1981). However, both Scott (1986) and Opler (1999) indicate also highly disturbed habitats in agricultural regions also. Transition zone compositae: CIRSIUM ssp. including C. ARVENSE, SILYBUM MARIANUM, CARDIUS PYCNOCEPHALUS; Scrophulariaceae: MIMULUS GUTTATUS (Scott, 1986).

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Comments: Larval foodplants include SILYBUM MARIANUM, CARDUUS PYCNOCEPHALUS, genus CIRSIUM.

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 81 to >300

Comments: Estimated thousands of occurrences. County records throughout western U. S., Canada and Mexico (Stanford and Opler, 1993).

10,000 to >1,000,000 individuals

Comments: Flies in abundance throughout the West Coast (Comstock, 1927; Emmel and Emmel, 1989).

Males both perch and patrol for females (Scott, 1986).

Comments: Multivoltine: adults fly from March-October depending on locality (Ferris and Brown, 1981); several overlapping broods from March-October; most abundant in August (Pyle, 1981).

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 5
Specimens with Barcodes: 37
Species With Barcodes: 1

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

There are 5 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.  Below is a sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.  See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen and other sequences.

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Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Widespread, abundant, tolerates disturbance.

Global Short Term Trend: Increase of 10 to >25%

Comments: Assumed to be increasing due to tolerance of altered habitats (agricultural fields, towns, etc.) (Scott, 1986). In the 1800's weedy thistles spread all over the West and were followed by the Mylitta crescentspot. Now this species seems ubiquitous and is found in many disturbed as well as natural habitats (Pyle, 1981).

Degree of Threat: D : Unthreatened throughout its range, communities may be threatened in minor portions of the range or degree of variation falls within natural variation

Comments: Native habitats including, moist meadowlands, the banks of water courses, and verdant areas (Comstock, 1927; Emmel and Emmel, 1989), may be threatened by anthropogenic development, agricultural conversion, grazing, and water diversion. However, species associated with highly altered habitats as well as native ones.

Global Protection: Many to very many (13 to >40) occurrences appropriately protected and managed