{"id":231510,"date":"2019-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/observation-of-the-month-behrs-metalmark\/"},"modified":"2019-10-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T07:00:00","slug":"observation-of-the-month-behrs-metalmark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/observation-of-the-month-behrs-metalmark\/","title":{"rendered":"Observation of the month: Behr\u2019s metalmark"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Por PATRICIA SIMPSON<\/p>\n<p>With a wingspan of less than 1 inch, it\u2019s easy to miss this small butterfly, first described in 1865 by its namesake Hans Hermann Behr, a German American doctor, entomologist and botanist.<\/p>\n<p>The adult Behr\u2019s metalmark (<em>Apodemia virgulti<\/em>) can be recognized by its black and brick-red patches dotted with white spots. The outer edges of the wings are lined with a row of small white dots. The top of the butterfly\u2019s body is black while the bottom is grey. Striped black and white antennas connect to the head just above two beautiful green compound eyes.<\/p>\n<p>The territory of the butterfly is limited from Central California (San Luis Obispo) to Northern Baja and from the Pacific coast to the western edges of the California deserts. Within this range, the Behr\u2019s metalmark can be spotted from March to September, except in San Diego County, where we can enjoy the fluttering insect year-round.<\/p>\n<p>The adult is a common sight at Mission Trails and can be seen foraging on an array of flowering plants such as in this observation posted in June on iNaturalist at <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2ppP1WZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bit.ly\/2ppP1WZ<\/a>. However, the Behr\u2019s metalmark is listed as \u201cvulnerable\u201d by Nature Serve in the United States. This is because the caterpillar (larva stage) relies solely on the native California buckwheat (<em>Eriogonum fasciculatum<\/em>) for food.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, nature preserves such as Mission Trails have been vital for the survival of the species. Urban and other areas deeply disturbed by invasive vegetation are inhospitable for the butterfly. This is yet another good argument to plant a few native species in one\u2019s yard. A couple of California buckwheat plants in your garden may just offer a new territory for the Behr\u2019s metalmark.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Patricia Simpson es una gu\u00eda de senderos en el Parque Regional Mission Trails.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By PATRICIA SIMPSON With a wingspan of less than 1 inch, it\u2019s easy to miss this small butterfly, first described in 1865 by its namesake Hans Hermann Behr, a German American doctor, entomologist and botanist. The adult Behr\u2019s metalmark (Apodemia virgulti) can be recognized by its black and brick-red patches dotted with white spots. The [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1074,"featured_media":231511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11558","_seopress_titles_title":"Observation of the month: Behr\u2019s metalmark","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11558],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-mission-times-courier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}