Phyciodes in CT

Grkovich, Alex agrkovich at tmpeng.com
Wed Mar 30 08:52:24 EST 2005



> -----Original Message-----
> From:	owner-ctleps-l at lists.yale.edu [SMTP:owner-ctleps-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Dave Wagner
> Sent:	Tuesday, March 29, 2005 5:58 PM
> To:	ctaylor at att.net; CTLEPS-L at lists.yale.edu
> Subject:	Phyciodes in CT
> 
> Clay,
>  
> I took all my crescents to Don Lafontaine last summer and he identified both Phyciodes cocyta and P. tharos from Connecticut.  And, of course, a bunch that didn't sort well one way or the other. 
	[Grkovich, Alex]  This is not surprising...again, folks should perhaps take a careful look at the photos of Gatrelle's Mimic Crescent (P. incognitus) on the cover of his TTR paper (which again can be viewed at the TILS website), and check whether this taxon matches any specimens (late July-August and again in early September) found in CT...I have apparent dead ringers of whatever it is that Gatrelle illustrates, which were taken at the Boston Hill, North Andover, MA at those times...also have a look at the specimens of diminutor illustrated by James Scott in his 1999 (?) paper, and watch for those..."oversized" black submarginal HW spots, unmarked DHW, a rather different "orange" ground color etc. Note also what the authors of the Butts of Canada write about a "second possible species confused in tharos, with wide black borders and orange nudums that flies abundantly in southern Ontario between the flights of tharos and cocyta...What is this that they write about? Diminutor? Incognitus? 

>  Interpretation of the mitochondrial sequence data for northeastern Phyciodes is far from straight forward--haplotypes are floating over species boundaries and the two/three/four species are not always distinct (to my eye).  For now, I am happy just to call them all tharos species complex.  To my mind they are not behaving as good species here.  I could be wrong...not much of a fan of single-character taxonomy...antennal club color does not a species make.
>  
>  
> 
> 	-----Original Message-----
> 	From: owner-ctleps-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-ctleps-l at lists.yale.edu]On Behalf Of Clay Taylor
> 	Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 1:42 PM
> 	To: agrkovich at tmpeng.com; CTLEPS-L at lists.yale.edu
> 	Subject: Re: RI BUTTERFLY FLIGHT CHART from Harry Pavulaan may also be of value for CT/Ma butterfliers
> 	
> 	
> 	All - 
> 	 
> 	    Regarding Alex's #3, the listing of Pearl Crescents in all weeks is doubtless due to staggered timings of broods seen over a series of "early" and "late" emergence years.  There are always periods during a particular year when there are none to be found since they are between broods.   
> 	 
> 	    As for the lack of Northern Crescent in RI, I am not aware of any specimens recorded in CT (Dave, anybody?...), which would make a RI record even less expected.
> 	 
> 	Clay Taylor
> 	Moodus, CT
> 	ctaylor at att.net <mailto:ctaylor at att.net> 
> 
> 		----- Original Message ----- 
> 		From: Grkovich, Alex <mailto:agrkovich at tmpeng.com> 
> 		To: CTLEPS-L at lists.yale.edu <mailto:CTLEPS-L at lists.yale.edu> 
> 		Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 12:55 PM
> 		Subject: FW: RI BUTTERFLY FLIGHT CHART from Harry Pavulaan may also be of value for CT/Ma butterfliers
> 
> 
> 
> 		-----Original Message-----
> 
> 		From:   Grkovich, Alex 
> 
> 		Sent:   Tuesday, March 29, 2005 12:49 PM
> 
> 		To:     'kingarthurarthur at yahoo.com' <mailto:'kingarthurarthur at yahoo.com'>; blackstone valley
> 
> 		Cc:     'Pavulaan at aol.com' <mailto:'Pavulaan at aol.com'>
> 
> 		Subject:        RE: RI BUTTERFLY FLIGHT CHART  from Harry Pavulaan may also be of value for CT/Ma butterfliers
> 
> 		Arthur, harry et al,
> 
> 		This is a very interesting and also very informative source...A few comments/questions:
> 
> 		> 1. I note that the Zebra Swallowtail, a) is recorded from RI during mid-July, and has been reported, according to this, from mid-April through late August (all weeks) and into mid-September (CT and/or s. NY - I doubt that it has been taken in Mass. although the USGS shows a record from Essex Co. in northeast Mass which I would doubt)...That the Zebra has bee> n recorded so frequently in presumably CT and NY is surprising...I understood that southeast Penn. is as far north as it breeds (also the northeastern range of its host); and the Zebra is also not a wide-ranging species, it "hangs" mostly around its host...Where and when has it been recorded in CT, RI or NY???...While living in Plymouth, MA a bunch of years ago I always expected to find it in the dilute southeastern pine forests in the area, but never did...
> 
> 		2. "Canadian Tiger Swallowtail" recorded in April, may, early June and then again in mid-July and early August (!)...Hmmm...something is "fishy" here (Harry and I have talked many times about this and both feel this way)...sounds like something "else" is present in RI...I am quite certain that I have taken the Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail (P. appalachiensis*) at Wachusett Mountain, MA and in Westchester Co., NY in early June...and after examining vouchers that I have of supposedly "canadensis" in northern New England, I'm not even sure of some of those anymore...Much more field work is required here... And anyone who happens to have the book "Butterflies of Canada" (layberry et al) should carefully note how closely the male "Eastern Tiger Swallowtail" (*P. glaucus*, on PLate 5, I believe from memory) resembles the Western Tiger Swallowtail (*P. rutulus*) figured below it on the same plate...
> 
> 		3. Pearl Crescent recorded all weeks, and Northern Crescent confirmed in no weeks, in RI, is also strange...How could the one be present non-stop, and the other not present at all? By the way, what has been typically "passed off" as "Northern Crescents" in eastern MA (including by myself) do not in fact look at all similar to (confirmed by DNA) actual Northern Crescents (*P. cocyta*) that I have taken in west-central Maine and in northern NH...and a male "Northern Crescent" that I have taken in northeastern MA in early September looks EXACTLY like the "Mimic Crescent" (*P. incognitus*) illustrated on the front page of Ron Gatrelle's recent paper in which he described this new species (see The International Lepidoptera Survey, tils-ttr.org).
> 
> 		4. Records for "Little Wood Satyr - Type 1" and "Type 2" agree with my observations in eastern MA. The two seem to occupy slightly different habitats (the second in more shaded and brushy environments than the first) and also behave differently in the field. 
> 
> 		Just a few observations...there are other "quirky" things as well, that raise suspicion, such as Edwards' Spring Azure, recorded form late Oct./early Nov....but enough for now...Hopefully others out there will offer their own comments and other questions...
> 
> 		Alex
> 
> 		-----Original Message-----
> 
> 		From:   owner-ctleps-l at lists.yale.edu [SMTP:owner-ctleps-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Arthur M. Plitt
> 
> 		Sent:   Saturday, March 12, 2005 10:45 AM
> 
> 		To:     blackstone valley
> 
> 		Subject:        RI BUTTERFLY FLIGHT CHART  from Harry Pavulaan may also be of value for CT/Ma butterfliers
> 
> 		  This chart shows the adult flight periods of all butterflies recorded in Rhode Island & a few that come really close in MA or CT. You can access this file at the URL:
> 		<<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ButterflysocietyofRI/files/RI_brood%20chart.XLS>> 
> 
> 
> 		May all your 'journeys have the spirits of our roundtable with you!!
> 		           ><../'/_/ KingArthur/_//<>
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