unidentified butterfly

[Chris J. Durden]

At 08:17  11/05/00 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>Piecing clues together to say that this UFO is not Pyrgus centaurea wyandot:
>
 
>Clue 1 - most eastern populations (with the exception of Michigan) are not
>associated with wild strawberry - but the similar appearing Dwarf
Cinquefoil ,
>Potentilla canadensis. 
- - - 
*P. wyandot* does use the yellow flowered *Waldsteinia fragarioides* as
larval food at Green Ridge MD.
- - -(Chris)
>
>Clue 2.  Pyrgus wyandot is very rare in the east, and is not a yard butterfly
>(Unless your yard is surrounded by natural barrens habitats maybe).
- - -
Apparently this yard had something that looks like *Waldsteinia f.*
- - -(Chris)
>
>>
>> > >>  In Philadelphia on Sun., May 7 at very approximately 2PM , I saw a
>> > >>  little (maybe 1-11/2" wingspan) butterfly on my lawn.  It was
brownish
>> > >>  and whitish (maybe some other color, too) with a kind of checkered
>> > >>  pattern.  I couldn't get a very close look at it. 
- - -
*P. wyandot* has more of a brown/white/yellow appearance than does *S.
communis* with its black/blue-white/yellow appearance.
- - -(Chris)
 Every time I tried to
>> > >>  lean near it, it went fluttering through the grass 
- - - 
*P. wyandot* does flutter through the grass while testing the *Waldsteinia*
for an oviposition site.
- - -(Chris)
and also landed it
>> > >>  some wet dirt (puddling?).  I had just watered some of my plants.
>
>Clue 3 - and this is a big one - no one who has ever seen P. wyandot in
flight would
>say that it "fluttered through the grass".  Wyandot in flight is a
complete blur,
>wings are almost invisible, and it move so fast that its hard to follow
visually for
>more than a few seconds.
>
>
>
>--
>John Shuey
>
- - -
Seems very early in the year for *S. communis* in the Northeast, but is
just right for *P. wyandot*. Let us hope there can be another sighting!
- - -(Chris)
>