Common names: Mitchell's Satyr, Mitchell's Marsh Satyr

The Mitchell's Satyr (Neonympha mitchellii mitchellii) is a federally endangered species and it is illegal to collect.

Description

The wingspan is 35 to 45 mm, these wings are small, fragile and translucent. The underside of both wings have yellow-rimmed black submarginal eyespots.

Range & Habitat

There are only a few isolated populations left in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. These occur in southern Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, northern Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, and formerly New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. They are found in fen habitats with tamarack, poison sumac, and tussock sedge.

A population found in North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 has been listed as a separate subspecies, the Saint Francis' satyr. In these states they stay in marshes and sedge swamps.

Life cycle

They only fly for about 10 days in late June, early July. They fly slowly with a bobbing sort of flight about a foot off of the ground. Females lay a single egg on grass, or multiple eggs on the underside of small forb

Forb

A forb is a herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid . The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory.-Etymology:...

seedlings, the fourth-instar hibernates.