Speyeria nokomis nokomis Edwards

[Gary W. Clark]

I am attempting to find any information on this subspecies of the Nokomis
Fritillary or sometimes referred to as the Western Seep Fritillary.

The reason for my interest in the ssp. is that at our local museum there is
a display of this ssp.  Below is the text from a card in the collection of
Utah butterflies, collected during the early 1960 s, and presented to the
museum by Kenneth B. Tidwell; above a group of three specimens (male, male
underside visible and female) identified as: Speyeria nokomis nokomis
Edwards.  The collection also includes similar groups of specimens labeled
S. nokomis apacheana and S. nokomis coerulescens.

"The type locality of this species was designated as Mount Sneffels, Ouray
Co., Colorado at 9000 feet.  Many dedicated lepidopterists searched for
years, but no nokomis was found on Mount Sneffels. It is suggested that the
type material may have been collected at Ojo Verde in South Eastern Utah.
No nokomis had been collected for 45 years when on august 26 1960 a colony
of nokomis was found at Merkely's Park on Ashley Creek, Uintah Co., Utah by
Kenneth B. Tidwell."
From:Utah Fieldhouse of Natural History
, Vernal, UT

I am an amateur Entomologist residing in Uintah Co. and am very interested
in finding out if there is any mention of this ssp. in other literature as
well as if the colony still exists here.  I am in an area with a very
limited public library, and have found only one reference to the ssp. in
Scott's "Butterflies of North America".

Thanks in advance-

Gary W. Clark
Uintah School District
635 W 200 S
Vernal, UT 84078-3099
801-781-3100 Office
Gary.Clark at mail.uintah.k12.ut.us