Sardis and Stamm

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When a fragile Lange’s metalmark butterfly is blown beyond the safety of the wildlife refuge, Sardis stops to return the butterfly to the sand dunes where it belongs. Along the way, Sardis and Stamm discover a hidden world of wildflowers and insects that call this refuge their home, as well as reminders of these dunes’ troubled past. Can saving a single butterfly determine the fate of its species?

Join Sardis and Stamm on a big adventure of small proportions!

Sardis and Stamm is a children’s story about the endangered Lange’s metalmark butterfly (Apodemia mormo langei) and the Antioch Dunes. The adult butterfly depends on the Antioch Dunes buckwheat plant to perch, nectar, and lay eggs, and growing caterpillars feed on the buckwheat’s leaves and flowers. The short life of an adult Lange’s metalmark butterfly is measured in weeks, and they are only able to fly short distances. After years of disturbance from wildfire and sand mining, much of the butterfly’s historic sand dune habitat is gone, leaving the butterfly to depend on two small parcels of land for its survival, the Sardis and Stamm units of the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge in Antioch, California. Today, the Lange’s metalmark butterfly is nearing extinction.