Montane-insect
Guides
Archips eleagnana
Archips eleagnana is a species of leafroller moth in the family Tortricidae, first described by James Halliday McDunnough in 1923. It is native to North America, with records from the Canadian prairie provinces (Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan) and the western United States (Wyoming, New Mexico). The species inhabits prairies and montane areas. As a member of the genus Archips, its larvae are leafrollers that feed within sheltering leaf structures. The basionym Cacoecia eleagnana reflects its historical placement in a different genus before reclassification to Archips.
Chrysomela aeneicollis
Willow Leaf Beetle
Chrysomela aeneicollis is a willow leaf beetle in the family Chrysomelidae that has served as an important model organism for studies of natural selection, climate adaptation, and conservation genomics. Populations in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California have been studied intensively since 1984 to understand how montane insects respond to thermal variation, reduced oxygen availability, and environmental change. The species sequesters salicin from host willows to produce defensive salicylaldehyde secretions, though these are ineffective against specialist predators. It is included in the California Conservation Genomics Project due to its documented population structure and genetic variation along environmental gradients.