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Species Satyrium semiluna - Sagebrush Sooty Hairstreak - Hodges#4277.1

Sagebrush Sooty Hairstreak - Satyrium semiluna Sagebrush Sooty Hairstreak - Satyrium semiluna Sagebrush Sooty Hairstreak - Satyrium semiluna Satyrium fuliginosum - Satyrium semiluna
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)
Family Lycaenidae (Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks, Harvesters)
Subfamily Theclinae (Hairstreaks)
Tribe Eumaeini
Genus Satyrium
Species semiluna (Sagebrush Sooty Hairstreak - Hodges#4277.1)
Hodges Number
4277.1
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Satyrium fuliginosa ssp. semiluna Klots, 1930. Type locality: Half Moon Ranch, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Satyrium fuliginosa ssp. maculadistinctum Mattoon & Austin, 1998. Type locality: west slope East Sister, Sweetwater Mountains, Lyon County, Nevada
Satyrium semiluna (Klots) A.D. Warren, 2005
Satyrium semiluna ssp. maculadistinctum (Mattoon & Austin) A.D. Warren, 2005
Explanation of Names
Latin for "half-moon"
Identification
Tailless, dorsal drab gray, underwing grayish to brown, with the FW usually having a line of dark dots circled in white, and the HW can have some whitish dots.

Distinction from S. fuliginosum as a distinct species is debated, and needs further study in potential zones of contact. Distinguished from that species by the presence (sometimes faint) of a "stigma" or "sex brand" on the upper front wing of the males, and by distribution. Zone of contact should be near the east base of the Sierra Nevada and northward across southwestern Oregon.
Range
Wyoming and Colorado, west to east-central California, and north to British Columbia.
Habitat
Open, usually exposed areas in association with Lupines (Lupinus species) and usually also with Sagebrush (Artemisia species).
Food
Lupines (Lupinus species)