None Lange's Metalmark is known almost exclusively from what is now the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge, established largely for the butterfly's protection in 1980. The butterfly's numbers began to decline early in the century as the growth of San Francisco led to the dunes being mined heavily for sand.
Adults emerge in late summer.
They live for approximately one week during which time they feed, mate, and locate the host buckwheat on which to deposit the eggs. The eggs are dormant for several weeks. Then, as the fall rains begin and new growth of Eriogonum appears, the eggs hatch and the tiny larvae begin to feed. Feeding continues through the winter and spring with pupation occurring in the next summer. The Antioch Dunes have faced mining, construction, agriculture and trampling by unknowing recreationists.