Finding Utah Butterflies-->Thistle Crescent (Phyciodes mylitta mylitta)

Overview:

Thistle Crescents can be one of the most common butterflies in agricultural fields, old ditches, or disturbed areas in our valley floor. Like Field Crescents, occasional strays may be found in neighborhoods that border agricultural areas. In the valley floor, the larvae feed mostly on thistles such as Cirsium arvanse and Cirsium vulgare. Thistle Crescents also fly in dry mountain canyons where they use a variety of thistles. Males can be found patrolling up and down dry washes and gullies in search of females.

Note: To leverage the next section and fly to specific locations, you need to install Google Earth.

Specific Localities:

Rock Canyon, Utah County, Utah. N40 15'54.35" W111 37'34.64" or click here.
Neff's Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah. N40 40'31.77" W111 46'23.90" or click here.
South Willow Canyon, Tooele County, Utah. N40 29'37.96" W112 34'48.04" or click here.

Flight Periods:

These butterflies have multiple generations each year and can be found in April, June, and August in our valley floors or April and July in our mountains.

Raising Caterpillars Resources:

Thistle Crescent caterpillars can be found feeding gregariously (communally) on bull thistle as well as other thistles. Larval chewmarks make a unique skeletonization effect on the undersides of host leaves and are easily recognized. Another method of rearing larvae is to collect live females and get them to lay eggs in a cage. Females lay eggs in large clusters of over 100 eggs. Caterpillars that feed on thistles in the lab can go through straight to pupa by being exposed to 24 hours of artificial light. See link below for further instructions.

pdf: http://utahbugclub.org/layout/pdf/Raising_mylitta.pdf 
Raising Butterflies: http://www.raisingbutterflies.org/phyciodes-mylitta-mylitta/  

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