favonius/ontario

[Alan Wormington]

This is great information, but before this gets out-of-hand it should be
known that both records of *ontario* in Ontario pertain to STRAY
individuals.  The location of the type (Port Stanley) is a locality (on
Lake Erie) where stray  immigrants of numerous species have been found
over the decades.  At Point Pelee, the *ontario* that we found there in
1999 (just shy of the actual Tip) was an obvious stray -- not only did
White-M Hairstreak show up during the same week, but during the same week
another Northern Hairstreak appeared on the south shore of Lake Erie near
Cleveland.  I doubt there are many places in North America that have been
more intensely monitored than tiny Point Pelee during the past 20 years. 
Therefore, the suggestion that the species is at Point Pelee but has been
overlooked for 130 years due to the species behaviour is 100% improbable.

Also, re naming these butterflies, I don't think most people want to use
separate common names for different subspecies of a single species (that
is, retaining the useage of "Northern" and "Southern" if it is determined
that the entities do pertain to a single species).  I agree that choosing
one name over the other, or coming up with something different, might be
difficult.  I can think of at least one parallel situation:  the common
names "Red-spotted Purple" and "White Admiral" that are in widespread
use, but pertain to a single species.

Alan Wormington
Leamington, Ontario

New Web Page (incomplete, but I'm working on it):  www.Point-Pelee.com

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On Sat, 4 Nov 2000 14:01:33 -0500 "Ron Gatrelle" <gatrelle at tils-ttr.org>
writes:
> From Ron G.
>     As the expert on Fixsenia favonius, I will say that very few 
> people are
> aware of what this taxon_technically_is. The information in these 
> e-mails
> and in Butterflies of NJ (and other popular literature) is 
> taxonomically
> incorrect.
>     Nonetheless, if someone has to have a common name for F.favonius
> ontario,
> Northern Hairstreak is the name that should be used. The use of 
> Southern
> Hairstreak for the "northern" populations comes from those who see 
> favonius
> and ontraio as synonyms for the same subspecies. Thus, they do not 
> see the
> name ontario (Northern Hairstreak) as having any validity.
>     This Fixsenia is very common here but seldom seen most years 
> because
> three things do not coincide: adult flight, abundant nectar source, 
> and
> butterfly observers/collectors. For example, in those years with a 
> late
> spring the adult emergence occurs at the same time as certain 
> flowering
> shrubs. In these years it is found in the thousands. The key word 
> here is
> found. The other years it is just as abundant, but lep-ers seldom 
> find it
> due to its different flight habits. I suspect the same is true 
> further
> north. This species does not disappear for 130 years and suddenly 
> reappear.
> It was there all along but in a different niche than the 
> lepidopterist.
>       Before you ask, there are some taxonomic issues I can not 
> address here
> as these will be published in the next few months. I can refer you 
> to the
> Southern Lepidopterists' Bulletin #2 (1985).
> of
> 

 
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