Gorgone Checkerspot (Chlosyne gorgone): ID, Range, Host Plants

The Damier gorgone of the French Wikipedia is the Gorgone Checkerspot of English field guides, Chlosyne gorgone, and the match is exact: the French article carries the taxon Chlosyne gorgone (Hübner, 1810) and calls the English name Gorgone Crescentspot. It is an orange-and-black butterfly of open ground in the middle of the continent, easy to overlook as one more small orange butterfly until the underside is checked.

Identification

On top, BAMONA says the wings are orange with black markings, and the hindwing has a submarginal row of solid black spots. French Wikipedia is more detailed: the forewing has a black marginal band, a line of large orange checks and then smaller orange checks, while the hindwing has a black margin followed by orange checks each centered with a black dot. The wingspan is 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 inches (3.2 to 4.5 cm).

The underside gives it away. The hindwing has a zigzag pattern of brown and white bands and a median band of white chevrons. French Wikipedia describes the hindwing below as silvery with a median line of white chevrons and the forewing as orange bordered with white chevrons. A checkerspot with that chevron band and solid black dots on top is this species. The caterpillar is generally black, though an orange form exists, says French Wikipedia.

Range and habitat

BAMONA gives a broad range: Alberta east to southwest Manitoba and southern Ontario, then south through the Great Plains to central New Mexico, central Texas, Louisiana and central Georgia. There are isolated populations in the Appalachians and on the east slope of the Rocky Mountains. English Wikipedia sums it up as lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians. French Wikipedia puts it in the central United States from North Dakota to Texas and from Utah to Kentucky, and notes that the subspecies carlota is the only one present in Canada. A 2018 paper by J. V. Calhoun, cited in English Wikipedia, reconsiders the subspecies in the Southeast.

The habitat is open: ridges, prairies, streamsides, open hardwood forests, old fields and forest edges. Males perch or patrol to find females.

Life cycle and broods

Females lay eggs in clusters on the underside of host plant leaves. The caterpillars eat the leaves, and young ones feed in groups. Third-stage caterpillars hibernate; French Wikipedia says hibernation occurs in the third or fourth stage. The number of broods depends on latitude. In the north there is one, flying July to August. In the central part of the range there are two, May to September. In the south there are three, April to September.

So the same species is out in April in the south and not before July in the north, and a date alone does not say which brood a given butterfly belongs to.

Caterpillar host plants

Several plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, according to BAMONA, including sunflower, Helianthus. English Wikipedia lists the larval foods as Helianthus species, giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), burweed marsh elder (Iva xanthifolia) and showy goldeneye (Viguiera multiflora). French Wikipedia lists those and adds, for the subspecies, Lippia lanceolata and Lippia nodiflora, common sunflower (Helianthus annuus), butter-and-eggs (Linaria vulgaris), Lysimachia and Eriogonum.

One caution. BAMONA writes “crosswort (Lysimachia)” inside the sentence about Asteraceae, but Lysimachia is not in the sunflower family, and the sources give no way to resolve the difference. Consider the sunflower and ragweed group as the secure core and the rest as items needing a primary regional source.

Adult food and status

Adults take nectar, especially from yellow flowers. BAMONA gives the Nature Conservancy global rank G4, apparently secure globally, though it might be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery. Conservation is not usually required, and no management needs are reported. English Wikipedia, citing NatureServe, calls it Secure, and French Wikipedia reports no specific protection status.

A garden angle that the sources support

This is the most garden-compatible of the four species in this set, because its documented food is ordinary: sunflowers for the caterpillar and yellow flowers for the adult. A gardener within the range, in an open sunny spot, can grow native sunflowers (Helianthus) and nectar flowers in yellow. The butterfly garden guide explains the general rule that adults need nectar and caterpillars need host plants, and the Colorado State University table cited there lists sunflower as a plant used by another butterfly, the painted lady.

The sources do not say how readily the species moves into planted gardens, how many sunflowers it needs, or which sunflower species it prefers. They also do not rate it as an attractant. What is documented is the pairing: open ground, sunflower-family host plants, yellow nectar flowers. Compare the western Lustrous Copper, which depends on mountain sorrel, and the tropical Florida Purplewing, whose caterpillar host is unknown.