Pholisora catullus, the common sootywing or roadside rambler, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found from the central parts of the United States, south to central Mexico. Strays may colonize up to southern British Columbia, northern Michigan, southern Quebec and southern Maine. It is not found on peninsular Florida. The wingspan is 25–33 mm. There are two generations with adults on wing from May to August in the northern part of its range and from March to November in Texas. The larvae feed on Chenopodium album, Amaranthus and Celosia species. Adults feed on flower nectar from various flowers, including dogbane, marjoram, oxalis, white clover, common milkweed, peppermint, cucumber and melon.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Pholisora catullus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens61
BINs1
Marker genes2
eDNA detections79
Countries3
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus54 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 97% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 19 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)1.2%
Haplotypes19
BIN1
Most divergent pair2.3%
N.America
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-3P★COI-5P
animal barcode
06Genome at a glanceGoaT
The complete instruction manualPholisora catullus carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Chromosomes2n = 58 n = 29
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin11.7 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type9 263 records
Wild obs. + sensor7 172
Museum / vouchered1 867
Other224
Origin
Native1
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO19 120 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy78% within 1 km
≤100 m 2 945≤1 km 1 382≤10 km 818>10 km 398
5 543 georeferenced · 1 629 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor7 172
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy23% within 1 km
≤100 m 53≤1 km 264≤10 km 875>10 km 167
1 359 georeferenced · 508 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 867
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions25 of 51 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
New Haven, US
253
Colorado State Universitylocation not on record
206
WSUClocation not on record
192
East Lansing, US
159
Cambridge, US
125
OSUClocation not on record
120
San Diego, US
120
St. Paul, US
104
Vernal, US
79
Essig Museum of Entomologylocation not on record
72
Toronto, CA
71
Denver, US
55
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, OH (CLEV)location not on record
40
Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record
35
Philadelphia, US
31
King Saud Universitylocation not on record
26
UNHClocation not on record
17
Champaign, US
16
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
16
FLMNH-UFlocation not on record
14
ASUlocation not on record
11
CUlocation not on record
10
Georgia Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
9
Blacksburg, US
8
Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record
8
Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record
5
Albuquerque, US
5
WWUlocation not on record
5
Decorah, US
4
Brussels, BE
4
Washington, US
4
UDlocation not on record
3
Edmonton, CA
3
White River Junction, US
3
University of Alabamalocation not on record
3
RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record
3
MZLUlocation not on record
3
University of Central Floridalocation not on record
3
München, DE
2
Helsinki, FI
2
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
2
University Park, US
2
US
2
University of Guelphlocation not on record
2
Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record
1
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
1
Zürich, CH
1
Mississippi State, US
1
Chicago, US
1
SOVTlocation not on record
1
Ciudad de México, MX
1
51 institutions · 1 864 of 1 867 vouchered records shown · 2 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA79 detections
Where the DNA of Pholisora catullus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found79
Studies independent surveys1
Countries3
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 79 detections have coordinates
Open the map3 countries0
4. Native Grassland | 4.4. Temperate Grassland
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median18.2 °C 12.5–28.1
Seasonal swing summer↔winter19.8 °C
Max temp (day)25.7 °C 19.1–33.8
Min temp (night)11.0 °C 5.90–22.7
Precipitation47.4 mm/mo 27.9–79.1
Air humidity51.0 % 46.7–53.8
Moisture balance-92.2 mm/mo -138–-61.3
Vapour deficit966 Pa 696–1,898
Wind speed2.30 m/s 1.30–4.50
Cloud cover25.5 % 17.8–39.8
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 72 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation2 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility9 263 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI79 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics61 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗