Northern Checkerspot

Chlosyne palla · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.

Caterpillars feed on goldenrod, rabbitbrush and asters, and the adult can be confused with other checkerspot species.

How to recognize it

The upper wing shows a mix of dark brown, light orange and tan, while the underside has alternating red and yellow cells.

It is a North American butterfly found from southern British Columbia to Alberta and south to California, Utah and Colorado, but not Nevada.

Caterpillars eat goldenrod (Solidago), rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus) and asters.

There is a single flight period from April to May or July in higher elevations or northern locations.

Adults are on the wing once a year between April and July in mountainous or northern areas.

The species occurs throughout the same North American range described for its habitat.

It may be mistaken for other members of the palla group, such as the sagebrush checkerspot and Hoffmann's checkerspot.

Recorded in 12 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Idaho, Oregon, Colorado, Montana, Washington, Wyoming, Utah.

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Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

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Source: GBIF

Are they a garden pest?

Their caterpillars feed on wild plants like goldenrod, rabbitbrush and asters, not on cultivated garden crops.

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.