Wing span: 1 1/4 - 1 11/16 inches (3.2 - 4.3 cm).

Identification: Upperside is bright brownish orange; male has narrow black edging on the outer margins of both wings, female is brighter with diffuse borders. Stigma on male forewing has black or gray felt. Underside of hindwing is yellow-orange; no markings in the male, sometimes with faint markings in the female.

Life history: Adults are strong fliers. Males perch near the host plants all day to wait for receptive females. Eggs are laid singly at the base of a grass stem. In Minnesota eggs may be laid on the flowers of Echinacea angustifolia; the young caterpillars must drop off the flower and find a host plant to eat. Caterpillars live in a nest of leaves tied with silk, and fourth-stage caterpillars hibernate.

Flight: One brood from June-August.

Caterpillar hosts: Fall witchgrass (Leptoloma cognatum), little bluestem (Andropogon scoparius), and other grasses.

Adult food: Nectar from flowers of green and common milkweeds, yellow prickly pear, vetch, alfalfa, bush houstonia, purple coneflower, leadplant, compassplant, sunflower, and blazing star.

Habitat: Native tall-grass prairie.

Range: Southern Manitoba and eastern Montana south along the high plains to north Texas; east through Nebraska and Kansas to central Illinois and southwest Michigan.