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The Uncompahgre Fritillary Butterfly

Photo: cc-by-nc-3.0, Jim Brock

Symbolizes: Hope

They are well camouflaged with males having rusty brown wings marked with black criss-crossed bars. Females tend to be lighter in color.

They are tiny with an approximate wingspan of one inch.

They are critically endangered due to its very limited habitat range, climate change, human trampling, low genetic variability and specimen collection.

They always live near moist, cool, snowy high alpine areas around 12,000 feet and their larval food and protection source, the snow willow plant.

Adults feed on nectar from various alpine flowers.

Eleven small scattered colonies exist in the San Juan mountain range in Colorado. 

A wonderful read can be found here: https://www.naba.org/pubs/ab98b/p10.html