Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis)

[JH]

Hi Bill - I couldn't help but wonder if the Checkereds actually emerged from those Guilford mallows.  They looked so brand spanking fresh and new.  Very doubtful, especially considering the mowing practices of that area, and if one were to concede they were migrants, their actions would not be unlike that of the Little Yellows.  These butterflies arrive in the fall and oviposit on their hostplant(cassia), but just can't seem to get them through the winter.  The migrants keep "trying", though, nature's way of stretching her elbows.

You know, while you, or anyone else at the bio-day, didn't witness ovipositing, I wouldn't be surprised if those Checkereds did lay eggs at some point, this year and every year.  They obiviously don't make it through, evident in the lack of reports of them earlier in the year.

Perhaps they and the Little Yellows will be among our first new residents if this whole global warming thing pans out.

Best -

John Himmelman  


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John Himmelman
Killingworth, CT USA
jhimmel at connix.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: bill and Dale <droberts03 at snet.net>
To: butterfly ct <ctleps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 11:38 PM
Subject: Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis)


>Hi everyone,
>    I've had some thoughts about the Common Checkered Skipper lately I
>wanted to share.  In the Audubon guide R.M.Pyle says Pyrgus communis is
>"considered by many the most common skipper in North America." Klots
>says (Peterson guide) that the range is from central Canada to New York
>and west to California south to Mexico. It ranges from California to
>Argentina and across the United States according to Glassberg.
>Apparently the only place in North America the Common Checkered Skipper
>isn't "common" is the Northeast.  Those of us who participated in
>Biodiversity Day in Guilford last week got a nice treat when a small
>population of these beautiful butterflies was discovered right on the
>Farm that was the site of the event. There were four or five flying
>around a hilltop meadow.  Last year on the day after Madison's
>Biodiversity day (Sept 10, 2000) I had a single P. communis in my garden
>and on and off for three weeks.  Today I had two on my hillside meadow.
>In all three cases the butterflies were interacting with the plant of
>the Malvaceae family commonly called "Cheeses" or "Common Mallow" (Malva
>neglecta). A butterfly would land on a leaf as if to deposit an egg,
>move to another leaf and act as if she wanted to deposit and so on. In
>no case was I able to find an egg.  I noticed the same thing last year.
>I'm wondering what's going on? Mallows in general (Hollyhocks, Hibiscus,
>Sidda) are listed as the host plant for all members of the checkered
>skipper genus (Pyrgus) and Cheeses would fall into the Mallow category
>but it seems to me that the Checkered Skippers I'm observing are, at the
>last minute, rejecting the plant as the appropriate site for offspring.
>Also it's mid September, could a brood be successful this late this far
>north? The cats would have to pupate and overwinter quickly to survive.
>And assume it is possible how come no one ever reports seeing P.
>communis until September?  Are the checkered skippers we see  migrants
>going through the motions or pioneers attempting to expand their range
>into the last corner of North America that they have yet to exploit?
>Anybody have any ideas about this?
>                                             Thanks-             Bill
>Yule
>
>
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