Bug FAQCalifornia Sister
Adelpha californica · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae
The California Sister butterfly has dark brown to black upper wings crossed by wide cream-white bands and orange patches near the forewing tips; the underside shows a mix of brown, blue, orange and white. It lives in oak woodlands of western North America, especially around oak trees and near streams or canyons, and its larvae feed on several oak species while adults sip nectar, fruit juices and sap. Eggs are green, development from egg to adult takes about 65 days, and depending on elevation the species can have one to three generations from March through November, sometimes persisting into winter.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The underside displays a varied pattern of browns, blues, oranges and whites.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are abundant in oak woodlands. Adults are often seen flying near the tops of oak trees or perched by small streams and canyons.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae feed on canyon live oak and coast live oak, as well as other oak species.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Eggs are green in color. Development from egg to adult takes about 65 days.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Depending on conditions and elevation, one to three generations occur each year, with adults usually on the wing from March through November. Adults may sometimes be present during winter months.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Found in the extreme western part of North America, from northern Baja California through most of California, western Nevada and western Oregon.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It looks very similar to Adelpha bredowii and Adelpha eulalia. Females of some Doxocopa species also closely resemble it. Other related Adelpha species and the Lorquin's admiral butterfly are less close lookalikes.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 8 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, New Mexico, Utah, Texas.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Nymphalidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelpha_californica
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.