Eyepsots absent. Upperside dark brown with a large, diffuse dark-ochre patch in the forewing median area. Underside similar, but with a light brownish-grey frosting on outer half of hindwing and forewing apex. The only other Erebia in Alberta that lacks eyespots is magdalena.

Alaska south to northern Montana along the Rocky Mountain front ranges, east to southern Quebec (Scott 1986). Occurs throughout Alberta, but is absent from most of the prairie region (Bird et al 1995).

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)) A Holarctic species. In North America, Alaska east to Hudson Bay and Quebec, and south to northern parts of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan. Also a large range in Asia.

Moist meadows and fens.

Comments: Black spruce bogs, woodland meadows, old fields, and open, dry grassy areas. One larval host plant is Poa canbyi.

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.

Larval hosts in Alberta remain to be confirmed. Larvae eat bluegrass (Poa) species, including lawn grass in captivity (Bird et al. 1995) and Canby's Bluegrass (Poa canbyi) in Manitoba (W. Krivda in Hooper 1973). Scott (1986) also lists P. glauca and P. alpina.

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

Estimated Number of Occurrences: > 300

Comments: Layberry et al. (1998) map close to 200 known localities for Canada alone and certainly most there are not known. So the choice of E (>300) is justified even for that subspecies alone. Furthermore the full species ranges into Alaska and Asia preseumably with at least hundreds more occurrences.

100,000 to >1,000,000 individuals

Comments: Given the range and that there are hundreds to thousands of viable occurrences it is very unlikely this species produces less than 100,000 individuals per cohort in Canada alone. More likely there are millions.

One yearly flight, peaking in May.

The barrel-shaped eggs are laid singly on the hostplant, and hatch in 9 - 11 days (Bird et al. 1995). Larvae, which likely overwinter, are cream-coloured with dark, diagonal lines. One of the first butterflies to emerge in the spring along with Boreal Azures.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Species: 17
Species With Barcodes: 1

Not of concern.

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N4 - Apparently Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Widespread and stable species with no known threats. Note that subspecies E. d. discoidalis in Canada alone would justify the rank and as far as known other subspecies are also similarly common in Asia.

Intrinsic Vulnerability: Not intrinsically vulnerable

Environmental Specificity: Moderate. Generalist or community with some key requirements scarce.

Global Short Term Trend: Relatively stable to increase of 25%

Comments: Probably stable possibly (based on an older version of this document) slightly increasing.

Global Long Term Trend: Unknown

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: No known or suspected large scale threats.

Global Protection: Several to very many (4 to >40) occurrences appropriately protected and managed

Comments: The only subspecies in North America is E. discoidalis discoidalis. Therefore all national and subnational ranks for the subspecies and the full species must be identical in North America and tracking of the subspecies is optional. Since there is no compelling reason to track the subspecies most information is given for the full species only.