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Close-up photo of live Great Basin Wood Nymph (Cercyonis sthenele) ventral view

Picture Rock Pass, Lake Co, Aug 5

Great Basin

Woodnymph

Cercyonis sthenele

Size: Up to 2 inch wingspan

Key ID features:  Above, brown or gray-brown with two eye spots on FW, lower eye slightly smaller, otherwise plain.  Below, silvery striated brown with one to several small eyespots on HW, two large eyespots on FW (lower one smaller as above), but nearly equidistant from FW margin. Dark median line below lobed, but smoother than in Small Wood Nymph.

Similar species: Small Wood Nymph is smaller, and HW median line below is more erratically jagged.

Host plant: Undetermined grass species.

Habitat: Sage-steppe, bunchgrass prairie, pinyon-juniper stands, ponderosa pine lands, oak-lined canyons.   

Range: Eastern Oregon, Siskiyou Mtns, Cascade Range from Lane County south.

Season: Late June to late September

Abundance: Common 

 

Conservation Status: Secure 

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