Chlosyne gabbii gabbii

Gabb's Checkerspot

Before the development of much of southern California near the coast, this butterfly was much more common. When the Emmels published The Butterflies of southern California in 1973, it still flew in the dunes west of LAX. Now, this is very much a butterfly of the mountains along the coast from below Monterey south into northern Baja. The lack of dots along the hind wing submarginal area easily separates it from the mylitta crescent, a similar-sized butterfly it is sometimes confused with. Distinguishing it from palla can be tough at times except that palla's southern limit is probably within the Sierra Nevada range around Lake Isabella, well inland from gabbii populations. Recent DNA testing* has actually suggested that gabbii is more closely related to acastus than it is to palla.

* Zhang J., Cong Q., Shen J., Song L., Opler P.A., Grishin N.V. 2023. "Additional taxonomic refinements suggested by genomic analysis of butterflies." Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 11(1). doi:10.5281/zenodo.7604053.

Chlosyne gabbii gabbii - Gabb's Checkerspot
A male Gabb's checkerspot at Otay Mesa, San Diego Co., March 8, 2008.
Chlosyne gabbii gabbii - Gabb's Checkerspot
Another male Chlosyne gabbii gabbii. Barrett-Stoddard Truck Trail, San Gabriel Mtns, April 29, 2007.
Chlosyne gabbii gabbii - Gabb's Checkerspot
Female gabbii at Malibu Creek State Park, April 25, 2010. Females have more contrasting coloration than males.
Chlosyne gabbii gabbii - Gabb's Checkerspot
Gabb's checkerspot ventral, Malibu Creek, May 10, 2006.
Chlosyne gabbii gabbii - Gabb's Checkerspot
Another ventral of Gabb's checkerspot. Note the subtle variation among these three on the venters. Barrett-Stoddard Truck Trail, San Gabriel Mtns, April 29, 2007.
Chlosyne gabbii gabbii - Gabb's Checkerspot
Gabb's checkerspot. Barrett-Stoddard Truck Trail, San Gabriel Mtns, April 29, 2007.
Caterpillar of Chlosyne gabbii - Gabb's Checkerspot
Third instar caterpillar on the usual larval food plant, Corethrogyne filaginifolia, at the Volcan Mountain Wilderness Reserve on July 11th, 2023.
Original description of Chlosyne gabbii - Gabb's Checkerspot
Gabbii was named after the paleontolgist William More Gabb, the Curator of Paleontology at the California Academy of Natural Sciences when Hans Hermann Behr named this checkerspot in 1863. This was in their journal, Proceedings of the California Academy of Natural Sciences. The specimens had been collected by Lorquin near Los Angeles, the fateful collecting trip reckoned by John Emmel to have been in the Verdugo Mountains. Several of our common local butterflies were named thanks to that journey by Lorquin.

©Dennis Walker