Wing span: 3.4-3.8 cm.

Flight time: Early to mid-June

Status: Almost extirpated breeding resident.

Distinguishing features: This butterfly is orange-tan to orange-brown above without marks. The underside has orange-tan forewings with one ocelli at the apex. The hindwing is olive-brown with a diffuse light mark across the end of the discal cell that sometimes crosses the whole wing.

Distribution and habitat: Extremely rare and limited to high quality xeric gravel prairies in the far northwest.

Natural History: Larvae consume various grasses; the preferred host species in Iowa are unknown. Adults were once common in the Blood Run valley in far northwestern Iowa as recently as a decade ago. However, since the initiation of fire management in this area and at Cayler Prairie, these populations have vanished. The only remaining population may survive along a railroad/highway prairie in Osceola County, but the precarious nature of these sites leaves even the fate of this population in serious doubt.