Observation date: July 23, 2024
Submitted by: Cascade Colors
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: There were several flying around the subalpine meadow at the saddle / ridge of a mountaintop (Devil's Causeway area in Flat Tops Wilderness). Sunny, wind-free morning. They are a pretty small size.
Status: Resident
Verified by: mikefisher
Verified date: August 23, 2024
Coordinator notes: Yes...your ID is correct. I give this rarely encountered alpine butter the common name, "Painted Alpine" (what is "yellow-dotted" about it?). The map did not show a very specific location but I suspect this is in the Stillwater Lake area of the Flattops?...first report by one of the "god-fathers of Colorado Butterflies (the book)...J. Donald Eff...in 1977. I have not searched for this butterfly probably because the weather is so bad on the flattops and I hate camping when it is wet...and the mosquitos can be really bad? Maybe I will give it a try in 2026 before I'm too old to get motivated! The population there (and elsewhere on the Flattops) are most like those in the San Juan Mts. (subspecies demmia). If you can enlighten me more about where you were, please feel free to do so...butterfliesofcolorado@hotmail...Mike
