There is only one place on earth where Lange's metalmark butterfly lives.  That place is a tiny remnant of sand dune habitat along the shore of the San Joaquin River in Contra Costa County, California.  No other place in Contra Costa County, or anywhere else, supports even a single member of this fascinating butterfly subspecies.

First discovered in 1933, it was named five years later by Dr. John A. Comstock of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, for Henry Lange of the University of California at Davis.  It has always been known from the Antioch Dunes, which today constitute the Antioch Dunes Natioinal Wildlife Refuge.  A number of scientists have studied the butterflies at Antioch Dunes, and much has been learned about Lange's metalmark.

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