Nais Metalmark

(Apodemia nais)
Metalmarks

Appearance:  Above red-orange with numerous black spots and a white spot near the forewing leading edge.  Below forewing orange with black markings and hindwing grayish-white with black spots and orange submarginal band. Abdomen with black and orange segmentation.

Wingspan: Small; 1 1/4 to 1 3/8 inches.

Habitat: Open woodlands, streamsides, flats and slopes; usually not far from flowering buckbrush, milkweed, dogbane or snowbrush; foothills, montane.

Flight Times: May to July; one brood.

Larval Foodplant: Fendler’s Buckbrush.

Did You Know…
There are approximately 1000 species of metalmarks worldwide with about 90% in the New World; about 24 in North America (Pyle, 1981). Just two species are found in our region.