Phyciodes batesii

[Don Lafontaine]

In the Ottawa Valley in eastern Ontario the Tawny Crescent has done and continues
to do well in its rather specialized habitat. I consider this basically a prairie
species that persists in prairie-like habitats in the east. In this area it occur
in alvar areas. These are areas where the bedrock, in this area mainly limestone
barrens and sandstone, lies so close to the surface that trees won't grow or tend
to be stunted, the habitat dries out and historically is frequently burned. This
areas support various prairie associated plants and insects and the areas where
Tawny Crescents occur have been good sites for this species for at least a half a
century. The areas usually don't go back to forests when abandoned because of the
thin soil, and for the same reason they are often not put into agricultural use.
At some of our sites you can see dozens of Tawny Crescents along roadways where
they gather at puddles on hot June days. Alvar habitats are well mapped for many
areas of eastern and central Ontario but a check of most of them for the
occurrence of Tawny Cresents has not yet been done.

Don Lafontaine, Ottawa, Canada

"Chris J. Durden" wrote:

> At 06:22  12/07/00 -0400, you wrote:
>  - - -
> >"only in eastern Ontario and Quebec and in the Great Smokies of North
> Carolina'
> >otherwise, it no longer occurs between New York and Georgia. Scott (1994)
> >attributes this loss largely to fire suppression and reforestation, which
> >eliminated the open habitat the species requires. Overcollecting may have
> >contributed to the disappearance of the highly publicized, last remaimning
> New
> >York Colony (Scott 1994)"
> >
> >It apparently persisted near Philadelphia into the early 1980s and in central
> >New York to about 1990.  In 1987 Shuey reported that it had disappeared from
> >Ohio.
> >
>  - - -
> >
> >M. Gochfeld
> >
> >"Chris J. Durden" wrote:
> >
> >>   45 years ago this species was locally common at a number of sites in the
> >> Ottawa Valley. I raised it several times on fleabane. Where I have seen it
> >> in Montana and Colorado it has been restricted to subalpine habitats around
> >> treeline.
> >> ..........Chris Durden
>
> The Ottawa Valley colonies were/(are?) in woodland glades, specifically
> associated with the herbaceous edges of large outcrops of sandstone or
> dolomite, and also near outwash sand barrens with pine, aspen and small
> white spruce. Perhaps the primeval habitat was limited to outcrop-edge
> openings in the forest in the glaciated north and on the Blue Ridge.
> Perhaps the colonies between these areas were an artifact of land clearing
> by pioneers and were not really natural or part of the "fundament" in the
> sense of Kroeber. If something like this were the case one might expect
> some genetic differentiation in the primeval refugia and some confusion and
> introgression in secondary colonies in artificial anthropogenic habitat. Of
> course fire may have played an important role but fire suppression is
> centuries old in the Northeastern States. Recent change roadside
> maintenance practices along paved vs. unpaved roads, and use of weedkiller
> rather than manual labor may also have been important in suppression of
> this species in roadside habitat.
> ..........Chris Durden
> >
> >