Satyrium polingi (Poling's Hairstreak) | Natural Heritage New Mexico

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Family: Lycaenidae

Genus: Satyrium

Species: polingi

Poling's Hairstreak - Satyrium polingi

384427

Species Extent (New Mexico)

A brown hairstreak butterfly, very similar to the eastern <i>Satyrium favonius</i>.

Global Rank: G3

State Rank: S1

Rank Metadata
State Rank: S1	Rank Changed: 12/26/2025
Rank Reviewed: 07/31/1996
Reason: Poling’s Hairsreak (Satyrium polingi) is found in arid scrub oak chaparral habitat in sky islands across southern New Mexico, west Texas, and northern Mexico. Population size estimates and trends are currently unknown for this species. There are a wide variety of potential major threats to this species however, the impact of these threats are not currently well understood. But due to catastrophic wildfire, grazing, and invasive species there is a continuing decline in the extent and quality of this species habitat. Obtaining population numbers and doing additional research on threats is necessary to ensure range wide stability. Because this species is isolated on several mountain tops separated by wide distances the species is considered severely fragmented and restricted to a small habitat with an Area of Occupancy of just 22,022km2 however, due to its extreme habitat specialization its Area of Occupancy is much lower at just 9km2. It also is only known from nine occurrences. While these numbers are likely underestimates due to difficulty accessing the habitats they still raise serious concerns. As a result, the species is currently assessed as S1 in New Mexico. However, a reassessment should be done if more information becomes available.

Ecological Factors
Specificity: Narrow. Specialist or community with key requirements common.	Range Extent: 20,000-200,000 square km (about 8000-80,000 square miles)
Occurences: 6 - 20	Population Size: Unknown
Area of Occupancy: An Area of Occuapncy of 9km2 was calculated on RARECAT using data from GBIF.org and Butterflies of New Mexico (GBIF.org 2025, Cary and Toliver 2025). However, the species habitat is extremely hard to survey and not regularly traveled and as such should probably be considered an underestimate even though the species is highly localized.	Threat Summary: N/A

State Status:

Federal Status:

USFS Status: R3 SCC

BLM Status:

SWAP Status:

NMRP Strategy Status:

Number of Subpopulations: 3

Number of Mapped Locations: 3

Number of Observations: 3

Observation date range: 01-01-1980 to 01-01-1985

Show