Adelpha californica are found in the extreme western parts of North America, from northern Baja California to Mexico, most of California, western Nevada, western Oregon of the United States.
   They are also found occasionally in south western Washington, although these are believed to be vagrants. 
   The favored terrain of these handsome butterflies is oak woodlands.
   Depending on seasonal conditions and elevation, they will produce from one to three generations annually, with adults on wing from March through November.
   (Adults may sometimes last through the winter months.)
   They are a medium to large sized brown to black colored butterflies with a relatively narrow dorsal forewing postdiscal creamy white colored band above with a relatively large orange patch on the forewing.
   Somewhat similar on the dorsal side to Lorquin's Admiral (Limenitis lorquini) but they can be readily identified by the lower placement of the orange forewing patch and the blue lines on the ventral surface of the wings. 
   The dorsal surfaces of their wings are a dark brown to black.
   They have two large orange patches near the tip of the forewings and wide postdiscal creamy white bands on both wings.
   The ventral surfaces of the wings are generally similar but with blue bands along the edges of both wings, as well as blue and orange patterns on the corners near the body.
   Like other members of this genus, they are named "sister" because of the black and white markings on the forewing that resemble a nun's habit.
   Because of the toxic leaves that their caterpillars eat, they are unpalatable to predators and are part of a large mimicry complex. (Batesian /Mullerian Mimicry)
   They are not considered threatened and are abundant throughout their range.