Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site - Lycaenidae

Agriades podarce

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:51 +0000

This is a member of a circumboreal complex seemingly undergoing speciation even as we speak. Our populations are highly localized with the host plant along streamsides in wet and boggy high-altitude meadows. At Donner they occur in a small part of the Lake VanNorden Meadows and also on a couple of small boggy meadows upslope from Clair Tappaan Lodge and Cal Lodge. At Castle Peak they occupy a small portion of Castle Valley. They always co-occur with the much more widespread Greenish Blue, Plebejus saepiolus, and usually fly together in early summer (June-August), visiting the small flowers of native clovers.

The host is Shooting-Star, Dodecatheon jeffreyi (Primulaceae), which usually grows right at the edges of small streams among sedges. Our populations of this distinctive butterfly are very lightly-marked beneath; those from northwestern California are very dark.

Atlides halesus

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:43 +0000

The common name is a misnomer insofar as there is no purple anywhere on this very showy, tropical-looking animal. The Great Purple Hairstreak occurs from sea level to about 5000' wherever its host plants, broadleaf mistletoes, occur. It is commonest in Valley and foothill riparian forest and in older urban neighborhoods with a well-developed canopy, and in foothill woodland. In recent years this species, which had turned up as a presumed stray in autumn on Rabbitbrush, became established as a breeding resident at Sierra Valley. This was unexpected, as it has been assumed to be intolerant of cold winters! In urban areas this insect can be common but unnoticed, spending its time in the canopy where at best it may be spotted as a moving blue flash. But it does visit garden flowers such as Lantana and Zinnias, and in riparian forest routinely visits Dogbane, Milkweed, Goldenrod, California Buckeye, members of the Carrot Family (Apiaceae)and the obnoxious weed Perennial Peppergrass. Pupae can be found in litter under mistletoe-infested trees, but are usually parasitized.

Males hilltop and perch, but in flat country the mating behavior is undocumented. There is no phenotypic variation.

The hosts are Phoradendron villosum (P. flavescens var. villosum), the small-leaved mistletoe restricted to Oaks; P. macrophyllum (P. tomentosum), the large-leaved mistletoe found on a great variety of broadleaf trees other than oaks (and occasionally on shrubs, even Poison Oak!); and P. juniperinum, found on junipers and cypresses (the host at Sierra Valley and on serpentine where MacNab and Sargent Cypresses occur). The species breeds continuously in warm weather (March-October in the Valley and foothills; June-October at Sierra Valley). In the Sacramento Valley it is commonest in June and September most years, but individuals can turn up any time.

Brephidium exile

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:40 +0000

This species demonstrates classic source-sink metapopulation dynamics. West of the Sierra it overwinters successfully only very locally, usually on alkali soils with the favored native host plant Suaeda (Chenopodiaceae) but not subject to flooding. At these sites it breeds all winter, except in the coldest weather. From them it gradually spreads over the entire Central Valley and Bay Area and even into the foothills as the season progresses, breeding on the summer-annual weed Russian Thistle (Salsola, several similar species; the common "Tumbleweed" of our area) along roadsides and railroad rights-of-way. Although these populations may become very dense, they go completely extinct when the plants die off in late autumn. At Suisun this species breeds on Sea Purslane, Sesuvium (Aizoaceae), and can become very abundant but is usually drowned out by winter flooding and has to recolonize the following June (or so).

Larvae are ant-attended and feed largely on flowers and fruit of the host. A generation takes onlyabout 21 days in summer, so population growth can be explosive--but in recent years numbers of this species in our area have been low, which may be related to the fact that the relative abundance of the Salsola species has changed - some seem better hosts than others, though we don't know why. Other hosts used occasionally in our area include Orach (Atriplex patula, A.hastata), Pickleweed (Salicornia, not a frequent host), and the introduced Australian Saltbush, Atriplex semibaccata, formerly common but now extinct in most of our area.

Adults can be found dancing like gnats around the host and perching on it. They wander very far, however, and can turn up in places quite remote from any known hosts. They visit flowers with very shallow corollas, mostly near the ground, but in autumn may swarm over Coyotebrush (especially male plants), as well as Asters and Goldenrods. There is almost no variation except in size, and females may be twice the size of males.

This is an abundant species in alkali lands in the Great Basin, so it should not be surprising that it turns up as a stray on the East slope and in the high country, usually in autumn visitring Rabbitbrush.

Callophrys dumetorum

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:39 +0000

The taxonomy and the limits of species in this complex are up for grabs, with wildly discordant interpretations to be found in the current literature. For purposes of this project the name dumetorum is being used in the usual sense of recent decades, for the low-elevation, inland entity in California. It occurs in chaparral, coastal scrub, rocky foothill canyons and lower-montane chaparral and rock gardens. It is slightly larger than the higher-altitude entity (with which it is sympatric at Lang!) and less bluish-green below. Males are territorial perchers. Occasionally common.

Adults fly in spring - March to June according to locality. In the lower foothills there is a possibility of it being double-brooded. It occurs on dredge tailings on the east side of the Sacramento Valley, but spottily. The host plants are Deer Weed (Lotus scoparius, Fabaceae) and various perennial Wild Buckwheats (Eriogonum species)--an odd pairing, repeated in the Acmon Blue, and suggesting an as-yet-undiagnosed chemical similarity between these plants.

Adults visit flowers of Dogbane, Yerba Santa, California Buckeye, Woolly Sunflower, and - at Fair Oaks, Sacramento County - the escaped garden ornamental Red Valerian.

Callophrys sheridanii lemberti

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:38 +0000

The correct taxonomy of all our little green hairstreaks is up for grabs. At any rate, this is a high montane-to-alpine animal, found from Lang (where it co-occurs with C. dumetorum) through Donner to Castle Peak and (formerly) Sierra Valley. It flies in very early spring (which can mean July at high elevation!), shortly after snowmelt, typically in subalpine or alpine "rock gardens" in association with various wild buckwheats (Eriogonum) which are its presumed hosts. Adults visit Pussy Paws and other early flowers; males perch territorially, often on shrubs, and also come to mud. Occasionally fairly common. At Donner it occurs only in the montane chaparral at the east end of the Pass, usually with Incisalia iroides and mossii, Euchloe hyantis and Hesperia juba at the beginning of the season.

Celastrina ladon echo

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:36 +0000

Common to abundant at all but the Sacramento Valley sites and Castle Peak, where near its altitudinal limit. Formerly occurred at North Sacramento, but now extinct (?). A devout mud puddler (males only); both sexes visit many flowers, especially Ceanothus and California Buckeye, both of which are hosts of the larvae. There is little variation in our area; second brood specimens are larger and brighter. Two broods in the foothills (January-April, May-July) and one at and above 5000' (May-July). Hosts include Ceanothus species, California Buckeye, and the shrubby Dogwoods (Cornus); larvae feed on buds, flowers and young fruit. Many other supposed hosts have been recorded, mostly poorly documented. This is often the first butterfly to appear at any given site that does not hibernate as an adult.

Euphilotes battoides

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:11 +0000

This is a "complex" of several biological entities which may be "good species;" we have much to learn. All the populations along our transect are in the Sierra Nevada and are associated with Sulphur Flower, Eriogonum umbellatum - which itself may be more than one species! The butterflies are always single-brooded and emerge when their hosts (which are their principal, if not sole nectar sources) are in bloom, generally in late spring-early summer. Males are avid puddlers. The alpine population on Castle Peak, included in battoides for purposes of this transect, has been considered a separate species, Euphilotes ancilla pseudointermedia. It cannot readily be distinguished from E. battoides intermedia without examining the genitalia. A fascinating evolutionary puzzle, but you enter the taxonomy at your peril!

Euphilotes enoptes

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:10 +0000

Like the Square-Spotted Blue, this is a "complex" of entities in evolutionary ferment. However, along our transect there is no such complexity. All of our populations, from the Sierra foothills over the crest, feed on the Eriogonum nudum group of Wild Buckwheats and have very similar life histories - one brood in late spring-early summer, matching the blooming time of the host. Adults rarely stray more than a few feet from the host, although males do puddle. They mate on the host and roost on it for the night. Eriogonum nudum is a very common, widespread plant, but the butterfly is highly colonial and the colonies are very stable. There is plenty of intrapopulation variation. Where this species and the Square-Spotted Blue co-occur (as at Lang Crossing), both host association and wing phenotypes should allow for easy discrimination. If not, the genitalia are decisive. Although E. enoptes occurs in the North Coast Range, there are no known populations near Gates Canyon.

Everes amyntula

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:07 +0000

Slightly larger and broader-winged than the Eastern Tailed Blue, with a grayer underside with smaller black dots and (often) stronger metallic scales near the base of the tail. This is a species of cool, moist habitats, from the Redwoods to the Sierran mid-West slope; it is completely absent from the Central Valley and typical E. comyntas habitats, and the two very rarely co-occur. (They may, however, hybridize where they do.) In the Sierra it occurs from 2500' upslope, and has a distinctive "ecotype" or ecological race above tree-line (e.g., on Castle Peak). At the lowest elevations it may be double-brooded (March-April, May-July); at Lang Crossing it is single-brooded in late spring (April-July, with the occasional late emergent possibly representing a potential second brood); at 7000' and above obligately single-brooded, but flying in late spring-early summer (June-early July).

In dappled light and shade or in sunlit environments, often flying within its host (when an ascending vine like Lathyrus) or just above it (native perennial Vicia, or, in the alpine, Whitney's Locoweed, Astragalus whitneyi). The larva lives inside the pod, eating seeds, and closes off its entry hole with silk (presumably to keep enemies out). Adults nectar at their hosts, but also on Pink Pussy Paws, Eriogonums, Composites and even Yerba Santa and Dogbane. They puddle occasionally, but not "big time." Colonies may be very circumscribed; one at Donner Pass was wiped out by the construction of a nerw road to Sugar Bowl ski resort.

Everes comyntas

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:06 +0000

Like many Central Valley butterflies, this has been accused of being an introduction from somewhere else--but there is no good reason for thinking that it is. (We have done the molecular genetics which, alas, is uninformative.) The fact that it occurs widely and happily in disturbed habitats (in this case, annual grassland, riparian habitats and tule marsh) and often uses naturalized host plants contributes to the notion. It rarely turns up above 2000' and in our area is almost never sympatric with the Western Tailed Blue. Even at Lang Crossing, where the Western Tailed Blue is native and permanent and the Eastern a short-term colonist, they did not occur in the same spot.

The spring brood is more richly colored, especially in the female (which may be mostly blue above--summer females may be all black). This butterfly flies low, in the grass or among its host plants. It is strongly multiple-brooded, flying in the Central Valley from March to October (and rarely recorded as early as January!), and usually undergoing a "seasonal succession" of host plants as each passes through its life cycle and becomes available or unavailable as the case may be. In many places the first brood or two will be on introduced annual vetches (Vicia). Where native perennial Lathyrus is available, it may be used most of the season. Summer broods are often on Spanish Lotus (Lotus purshianus) and similar annual species, often shared with the Acmon Blue and Gray Hairstreak. In some places this butterfly may breed all seaason on the naturalized perrennial Bird's-Foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus). Other hosts include Sweet Clovers (Melilotus) and Clovers (Trifolium). Adults are avid flower visitors - generally to small, low things like Lippia, Heliotrope and Clovers.

Glaucopsyche lygdamus

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:05 +0000

A common, single-brooded Legume feeder found from sea level (where it flies in March and April) to above tree-line (early summer). There is plenty of variability, especially in the size of the black spots beneath (smaller in colder climates) and in the amount of blue on females above (none to a lot). Local populations tend to specialize on particular host plants. In the Central Valley and lower foothills occurs an "ecotype," or ecological race, adapted to naturalized annual Vetches much used on highway embankments. The native host plant in much of the Valley appears to have been the perennial sweet-pea, Lathyrus jepsonii and var. californicus. Most foothill and montane populations use perennial species of Lupinus. This butterfly often flies together with the Icarioides Blue (Boisduval's Blue) and the Arrowhead Blue. All of them are about the same size and color and are lupine-associated. Valley populations feeding on Vetch tend to fluctuate wildly in abundance, perhaps reflecting the weather during critical periods in the life history. It's an odd fact that this species, which spans the continent, developed an "ecotype" feeding on introduced annual vetches in the Northeastern U.S. about the same time it did so here.

Male Silvery Blues are enthusiastic puddlers, sometimes by the hundreds. They also visit flowers, especially Fiddleneck. This species is very tolerant of close approach and is very easy to photograph when mating.

Glaucopsyche piasus

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:04 +0000

Rare and seldom recorded on our transect; tends to be very local, and its habitat preferences are not well understood. It occurs in rocky canyons and mixed mesic forest at mid-elevation, and also at or near tree-line--the one constant is its association with perennial lupines, but they of course are much more widespread and common than the Arrowhead Blue is!

One brood in late spring to early summer (April-July), usually found flying with, but greatly outnumbered by, the Silvery Blue and the Icarioides Blue (Boisduval's Blue). All three are the same size and it takes considerable skill, born of experience, to tell them apart in flight. All three puddle, where the underside pattern differences help. The Arrowhead Blue visits Yerba Santa, Dogbane, mints, vetches, Wild Buckwheat, etc., but is most often seen around its hosts. The species of Lupinus used vary from place to place. It often uses silvery-pubescent ones.

Habrodais grunus

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:03 +0000

A very strange species, often common to abundant (but occasionally rare) and demonstrably long-lived, yet not known to visit flowers (or anything else resembling a food source) at all. It has a very short proboscis. There is a single brood, emerging in late spring to early summer, estivating in cool, shaded locations on the forest floor (e.g. inside bramble tangles), then re-emerging in autumn to breed - how do they do it? The adults are active in late afternoon and on into dusk, flying around the host tree. When they are perched in the tree they look exactly like dead leaves, and disappear. One can sometimes flush incredible numbers by agitating the tree or throwing a rock through it. There is little variation - but then, there isn't much pattern there to vary.

Despite its apparent adaptation to the droughty Mediterranean summer and the fact that there is a sister-species confined to Baja California (H. poodyi), the historic roots of this butterfly apparently lie in the Old World, where all the closely-related genera are.

The host is Canyon Live Oak (Goldencup Oak, Golden Oak, Maul Oak), Quercus chrysolepis. This oak hybridizes with the shrubby high-altitude Huckleberry Oak (Q. vacciniifolia) and the hairstreak also breeds on the hybrids (as at Lang Crossing, and in the Trinity Alps), but has not been found on Q. vacciniifolia itself. There are reports of it breeding on Chinquapin (Chrysolepis) and Tan Oak (Tanbark Oak) (Lithocarpus) as well, but not on any other species of Oak, and not at any of our sites.

H. grunus can be very common in the Coast Range where its host occurs, which it does not at Gates Canyon.

Hemiargus isola

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:09:01 +0000

An infrequent stray from southern California or Nevada, where it breeds on woody legumes in the desert and grasslands. It can and does turn up at all altitudes, unpredictably, generally as singletons at flowers, and is not known ever to breed in our area.

Incisalia augustinus iroides

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:52 +0000

Found from sea level to tree-line in a great variety of habitats; often common. An early-spring species, probably single-brooded but with hints of a second generation at the lowest elevations (which might be due to staggered emergence on different slopes). Males are territorial perchers. Both sexes visit flowers, including those of Redbud early in the season and Yerba Santa later. There is so much variation in habitat, host-plant association, and ventral color and pattern that this may actually be more than one biological species; it is by no means clear that it (or some components of "it") is actually conspecific with the eastern I. augustinus. Host plants include Dodder (Cuscuta)(!), Soap Plant or Amole (Chlorogalum, Liliaceae!), and flower buds or young fruit of Ceanothus and Arctostaphylos species - a bizarre mix indeed, though there is nothing to suggest any local population uses more than one of them. Late January or February to July, depending on locality.

Incisalia eryphon

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:51 +0000

Common at all the Sierran West slope sites. It has clearly moved upslope onto Castle Peak during the term of this study. Males perch around waist height on vegetation along roads and trails and in clearings, and are territorial.. Both sexes visit Ceanothus and other spring flowers, but seldom at ground level. One brood in mid-spring, May-June at Washington, June-July at Donner and Castle Peak. The hosts are "hard" pines (Ponderosa, Jeffrey and Lodgepole, in our area; most common where Lodgepole is dominant).

Incisalia mossii

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:50 +0000

Although this species has been divided into several subspecies, some with very small ranges, all our populations are considered subspecies windi. One of our earliest-flying species - generally only 2-3 weeks after snowmelt - and therefore very easy to miss. Although it does occur in the Coast Range near Lake Berryessa, it is unrecorded at Gates Canyon. In the Sierra it occurs at Washington, Lang Crossing, and Donner. At lower elevations (5000' and below) usually found on cool, damp north-facing cliffs with mats of Sedum, the host plant. Commonly the males perch on trees or shrubs in the sun on the opposite, south-facing side of the canyon! At Donner found at the east end of the pass in granite rock gardens near the Donner Lake overlook, where Sedum grows in the cracks; the males perch on Huckleberry Oak. March-April (Washington) to June (Donner). Absent from Castle Peak, where the alpine zone is all volcanic and there is no Sedum. (A different Sedum grows on mudflows at Carson Pass.) Usually the larvae are easier to find than the adults; they are usually purplish-red and stand out when feeding on the yellow Sedum flowers.

Leptotes marina

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:48 +0000

A frequent invader from southern California, sometimes moving north near the coast, sometimes westward from the Great Basin. It is abundant in the southwest deserts, where it feeds on woody legumes, but also in urban and suburban neighborhoods on the south and central coast where it breeds extensively on Leadwort (Plumbago), an ornamental from South Africa unrelated to its native hosts but presumably chemically similar. It has been recorded at most of our sites, but not in all years, and has bred occasionally - sometimes in large numbers - on leguminous hosts such as Alfalfa, Sweet Clover and Wild Licorice (Glycyrrhiza). It almost never overwinters successfully in the northern half of the state. Adults visit many flowers but seem especially attracted to those of the common, short-lived perennial mustard Hirschfeldia incana (formerly known as Brassica geniculata). Strays are most likely to be encountered in September and October.

Lycaeides idas anna

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:45 +0000

We are doing extensive molecular studies of this and the Melissa Blue, which are both apparently very evolutionarily dynamic. In our area Anna has two different hostplants, both Fabaceous and both occurring in boggy meadows and montane streamsides. At Lang (and below, and up to 6000' at least) the host is Lotus oblongifolius var. nevadensis, a perennial herbaceous species with bicolor, yellow-and-white flowers. At Donner and on the flanks of Castle Peak the host is Lupinus polyphyllus. Although this plant also occurs at Lang, it is never used there. At some drier Sierran sites other species of perennial lupines seem to be used. This butterfly is locally common, with one brood (typically June-August). Males perch on sunflecked foliage and also puddle enthusiastically. This butterfly often visits flowers of its host (no other butterfly seems to visit them, though) and also Asters, Goldenrods, Dogbane, etc. There is much minor phenotypic variation, both within and among populations.

Lycaeides melissa melissa

admin — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:44 +0000

The Lycaeides melissa complex is evolving even as we watch, with several different entities present in our region. "Agricultural" melissa occurs east of the Sierra Nevada and is common in Sierra Valley. It breeds on cultivated alfalfa but is never abundant enough to cause economic damage. It may also utilize both Lupines and species of the genus Astragalus within the region. Molecularly there are two distinct types, one found from Sierraville north, the other in Carson Valley and at Verdi, NV. Alfalfa-feeding melissa have temporarily colonized roadside feral plants at Donner, but do not seem to persist-perhaps because the host is rather uncommon. At Sierra Valley, triple-brooded (May-October); usually found in ag fields but also at roadside flowers, such as Sulphur Flower (Eriogonum umbellatum), Asters, Cardaria, Canada Thistle, etc. Females have bold orange markings above, usually fused into a band, and seldom have any blue. The melissa complex does not occur west of the Sierran crest.