G. l. lygdamus

Ron Gatrelle gatrelle at tils-ttr.org
Fri Feb 2 14:35:03 EST 2001


Jeffrey,

I don't think I have a Xerox copy of the Doubleday OD in my "stack." So I'd
like to have a copy too. I can offer two references. There is a picture of
a Ga lygdamus in Clark & Clark, Butfys. of Virginia. (I had thought this
specifically stated that it was from the coast - but not so. I know I have
seen a photo in some book of a Doubleday specimen. The holotype is in the
BMNH, London.)
The second reference is Butfys. of Georgia by Harris.... Ah, yes. I got out
my copy of Harris where it states that the figure in Clark and Clark is
true lygdamus and that the specimen is from the Smithsonian collection.

Harris: ".. nittanyensis is smaller, the white-edged black bar at the end
of the cell on the lower side of the forewing is smaller, and the spots in
the discal area of the lower side of the hindwing are much smaller, or
nearly absent. " He goes on the quote from A.H. Clark on the rarety of this
taxon. He calls the lygdamus from north Georgia northward nittanyensis.  I
have followed this same nomenclature despite the "lists" - This is why I am
so interested in finding this (remember it was supposedly found in coastal
SC in the 1990's - Allendale Co. I say supposedly because I have not seen
the specimen- it may turn out to be a heavily spotted spring ladon!)

The spot characters given by the Clarks are not always consistent. Go to
http://rlephoto.com/butterflies/blue_silvery01.htm  to see some real good
photos of western NC "lygdamus" by Randy Emmitt. These are typical
nittanyensis to me.  I don't like assumptions about rare taxa. My
rediscovery of  c. ismeria dropped quite a few jaws both positively and
negatively - primarily because it turns out to be a rare "lost" subspecies
of the common nycteis!!! (TTR 1:3). Pictures on line at www.tils-ttr.org in
November 00 news bottom of first page.

Ron Gatrelle

----- Original Message -----
From: "OLIVER JEFFREY CATLIN" <Jeffrey.Oliver at Colorado.EDU>
To: "Lep List" <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2001 11:56 AM
Subject: G. l. lygdamus


> Does anyone have (or know where I can find) a good description of G.
> lygdamus lygdamus?
>
> Jeff Oliver
> jeffrey.oliver at colorado.edu
>
>
>
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