California's State Bug

Pay close attention, because the California Dogface Butterfly flies high and it flies fast. Further, it only opens its wings for a moment as it flits between flowers, making sightings all the more thrilling. The held-breath-lying-in-wait is worth it, though, for a fleeting glimpse of the male’s spectacular dorsal forewing.

By squinting one eye and using lots of imagination, one can discern a yellow-gold pattern in the shape of a poodle’s face against a black background. The male's hindwings are yellow-orange, but the exact hue varies. The somewhat larger female is a monochromatic golden yellow all over, with one black dot, or dash, on each forewing. Although it is challenging to photograph a dogface with its wings open, its fast flight helps it escape predators such as ants, spiders, snakes, toads, lizards, and birds.  

Scientifically labeled Zerene eurydice, and also known as the doghead butterfly and the “flying pansy,” the dogface butterfly is found only in California, the first state to designate a state insect: back in 1929, the Lorquin Entomological Society of Los Angeles, wanting to establish a state insect, had selected it. Nevertheless, many years elapsed before their selection for state insect became official on July 28, 1972, thanks to the efforts of the teachers and fourth grade students at Dailey Elementary School in Fresno, who convinced the late Kenneth L. Maddy, then a California assembly member, to author Assembly Bill Number 1843.

That doesn’t mean the state insect can be spotted just anywhere in the state, and ironically, it isn’t found in Fresno. So far, expert entomologists have recorded sightings in only 37 of California’s 58 counties. That said, it positively thrives at the 40-acre Shutamul Bear River Preserve near Auburn. Its larval host plant, Amorpha californica, aka false indigo, is found in abundance there, and difficult to grow outside of that particular environment. The larva feed only on this one plant, although adults visit several flowers, such as California Buckeye, thistle blooms, blue verbena, and others.

It is said that perhaps only one in ten thousand have seen this creature in the wild. Thousands had the opportunity to see it on an episode of KVIE Public TV’s “Rob on the Road” show a few years back; If you missed it, YouTube currently has several videos of the dogface butterfly. A 35-page, illustrated children’s book, The Story of the Dogface Butterfly by entomologist Fran Keller, is available in the gift shop at the Bohart Museum of Entomology on the UC Davis campus; and also check your local library.

A stylized image of the California Dogface Butterfly has graced the face of two postage stamps. First, on a 13¢ stamp from the 1977 Butterfly Set, and again on January 27, 2019, on a 70 cent stamp for domestic, irregularly sized envelopes. It is the seventh in a series of butterfly stamps for this purpose; and marked “non-machinable surcharge to indicate its usage value.

Beginning with its official designation in 1972—and for several years thereafter—the California Dogface Butterfly appeared on California driver’s licenses in background designs, and right below the signature, as a security feature.