Blomfild's Beauty, 18 DEC 98, Mission, TEX,

[Mike Quinn]

Dear Lep List and Friends,

Billy Joe Snider, Jr. called Carrie Cate and myself on today (18 Dec. 1998)
to say that he was looking at a Blomfild's Beauty (*Smyrna blomfildia*)
feeding on tree sap in his backyard. Carrie and I dropped everything and
drove ~30 miles from Donna to 3 mile Line Road and Conway Boulevard in
Mission, Hidalgo County, Texas. (We've "chased" a few birds before but this
was the first time we actually chased a butterfly, other than running
across the street to see a Blue Metalmark last month.) We arrived at
1700hrs and saw the butterfly in a Burr Oak *Quercus macrocarpa* (not
native to the Rio Grande Valley). It was feeding at tree sap oozing from
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker holes. Looking through 10x binoculars, I saw it
fly from about 10 feet up to about 20 up in the oak. Red Admirals were
numerous at the many horizontal rows of sapsucker holes. We didn't see the
butterfly again! The Admirals flew around the trunk until 1745. We left at
1800.

In the brief look I had, I could not be certain whether it was *S.
blomfildia* or *S. karwinskii* (Karwinski's Beauty). I was previously
unfamiliar this genus.

Kendall and McGuire (1984) list 2 specimen records of *Smyrna blomfildia*
for the Rio Grande Valley: "One female new to Texas and the United States,
was collected in Hidalgo County, Weslaco, 1200 S. Nebraska Street, 3
December 1978 by Nancy Hackett as it fed on decaying bananas in her yard.
Another female, Texas A&M University Collection, was collected at Weslaco
on 10 November 1983 by H. A. Dean."

Although recorded in the literature for Texas and the United States, the
authors were unable to locate a voucher specimen for *Smyrna karwinskii*.

However, Knudson (1997) lists "one recent record (of *Smyrna karwinskii*)
from Jackson Co." (Jackson County, Texas is near the Gulf Coast of Texas
about half way between Houston and Corpus Christi.)

Knudson was the Zone 6 Coordinator for the Lepidopterists' Society. In the
June 1995 Season Summary, he lists "Smyrna blomfildia, DEWITT County,
Norheim, 16 December 1990 (JW)." DeWitt County, TX is immediately west of
Jackson County. "JW" is John Westerfield.

Naturally, we want to go back to Billy's house tomorrow, but unfortunately,
we're scheduled to do a Christmas Bird Count at Santa Ana!!! ;-( ?

BTW, Billy's landscaping business regularly takes him across the Valley.
Earlier this month, he reported seeing about 25 Red-bordered Pixies
*Melanus pixe* south of Mission, TX.

Literature Cited:

Kendall, R. O. and W. W. McGuire. 1984. Some new and rare records of
Lepidoptera
	found in Texas. Bulletin of the Allyn Museum. no. 86

Knudson, E. 1997. Update Checklist of Butterflies of Santa Ana National
Wildlife
	Refuge, Texas. Photocopy.

Minno, M. C. and M. F. Minno. Editors. 1995. News of the Lepidopterists'
Society. June.





-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Michael A. Quinn <mqnature at hiline.net>
Dept. Entomology, Texas A&M University