Volume 53, Number 2
Inside:
Cocoons: Reflections on
their Natural History
Interesting New
Pyraloidea Records from
Texas
Conservation Matters:
Problems with Listing
Imperiled Butterflies in
Southern Florida
Kisutam syllis in the
US: An Addendum
Pyrausta cardinalis - A
New Continental
Record
The Lodge at Pico
Bonito, Honduras: A
Destination for EcoTravelers
Membership Update,
The Mailbag,
Metamorphosis,
Marketplace…
…and more!
Summer 2011
Contents
Volume 53, Number 2
Summer 2011
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Periodicals Postage paid at Los Angeles, CA
and at additional mailing office (Lawrence,
KS).
Cocoons: Reflections on Their Unappreciated Natural History
Michael M. Collins. ........................................................................................... 39
Some New U.S.A. Records and Other Interesting Pyraloidea from
Texas
Ed Knudson and Charles Bordelon. ............................................................. 44
Announcement: ICE 2012 Lepidoptera Phylogeny and
Systematics Symposium. .................................................... 46
From The Editor’s Desk. .................................................................................. 46
Conservation Matters: Problems with Listing Imperiled Butterflies in
Southern Florida
Marc C. Minno. ................................................................................................ 47
Metamorphosis
Julian Donahue. ............................................................................................... 53
2011 Lepidopterists’ Society Annual Meeting Photos. .......................... 54
Kisutam syllis (Lycaenidae: Theclini) in the United States:
An Addendum
Mike A. Rickard and John G. Pasko. ............................................................ 55
Membership Update
Julian Donahue. ............................................................................................... 56
Photo Contest: Are you the Next LepSoc T-Shirt Model?. .................... 57
Pyrausta cardinalis, a new coninental record (Lepidoptera:
Crambidae)
James E. Hayden, Paul Dennehy, and James Vargo. .................................. 58
The Marketplace. ............................................................................................... 60
The Mailbag. ........................................................................................................ 61
The Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras: An Up and Coming Destination
for Modern Eco-Travelers of All Ages
Gary Noel Ross. ............................................................................................... 63
Call For Season Summary Records
Leroy C. Koehn. ................................................................................................ 67
2011 Lepidopterists’ Society Annual Meeting Photos. .......................... 68
Membership Information, Dues Rates, Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society,
Change of Address, Our Mailing List, Missed or Defective Issue, Book
Reviews, Submission Guidelines for the News. ........................................... 70
Executive Council/Season Summary Zone Coordinators. ................... 71
Issue Date: September 26, 2011
ISSN 0091-1348
POSTMASTER: Please send address
changes to News of the Lepidopterists’
Society, c/o Los Angeles County Museum
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Copyright © 2011 by The Lepidopteris ts’
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of contributors do not necessarily represent
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Society does not warrant or endorse products or services of advertisers.
Front Cover:
Heliconius ismenius telchinia gathers nectar and pollen in the Flight House of
the Butterfly Farm at The Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras. Note pollen packed
onto proboscis. June 27, 2010. Photo by Gary Noel Ross. (See story page 63.)
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Cocoons: Reflections on Their
Unappreciated Natural History
Michael M. Collins
Research Associate, Carnegie Museum of Natural History 215 Prospect St., Nevada City, CA 95959
[email protected]
In 2003 Dan Janzen hosted a “caterpillar conference” in
Costa Rica which asked the participants to alter their
perspective of Lepidoptera ecology from a bias favoring
studies of the adult to one concentrating on larval biology.
Caterpillars, after all, are the growth stage, intimately
associated with their plant community. Their digestive
physiology reflects a long and extensive adaptation to host
plants and their phytochemicals. Host plant specificity
largely determines a species’ demography – on a local scale
– and geographical distribution - on a large scale. Compared
to adult life spans, the larval stage is unique as a prolonged
expression of a series of adaptations to the physical
environment and to predators and parasitoids, all of which
may change with each succeeding instar. We have a long
tradition of pinning adults into specimen boxes, but studies
of immatures can reveal as much about a species as does
adult biology.
thermoregulation within the cocoon? Do some cocoons resist
submersion in water for prolonged periods?
By this measure, I suggest that the ecology of moth cocoons
has been under-studied. For cocoon-spinning groups such
as the Saturniidae, the larva diverts a considerable biomass
to the production of silk, and then spends several days
seeking out a spinning site and weaving the cocoon, often
one of an intricate structure unique to a given species.
Following spinning, the enclosed pupa must often endure in
a dormant state a prolonged season of drought or cold
against which the cocoon is its only protection. An extensive
literature exists on the commercial aspects of silks and
cocoons of domestic bombycoid species, but surprisingly little
has been written on the natural history of cocoon spinning
or the biophysics of cocoons of wild species.
I was reminded of these open questions during a recent
winter vacation to Arizona. Part of the time I spent
searching for cocoons of several species, an activity I have
long enjoyed for the opportunity to shake off daily worries
and concerns, to enjoy the natural world, and to ponder more
important topics, such as cocoon biology. The cocoons and
pupation adaptations of Arizona saturniids directly reflect
the dramatic and varied landscapes and plant communities
of the Sonoran Desert region.
Are there adaptive tradeoffs in the selection of a spinning
site for predation while spinning versus subsequent predation
through the season of dormancy versus a favorable location
for eclosure and mating? Does cocoon placement affect solar
heating and consequently the timing of breaking of diapause
and adult development?
Within a species, does pupation biology vary geographically?
How much variation is genetic? Are there host-induced traits
in spinning behavior or cocoon structure? (Specific host
plants have been shown to induce unique morphs in certain
moth larvae and butterfly chrysalids, examples of
environmentally controlled polyphenisms.)
For desert species, does the reflectance (albedo) of the cocoon
protect the pupa from overheating?
On Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mts. outside
Tucson I looked for cocoons of Agapema homogena at the
traditional sites: Bear Canyon and Hitchcock campgrounds,
where in the early 1970s Mike VanBuskirk found clusters
of cocoons under picnic tables! The normal spinning site is
probably in the bark crevices of ponderosa pine (Fig. 1), to
which the larvae wander from nearby coffeeberry shrubs.
These cocoons are rather thin-walled compared to others
such as Antheraea polyphemus and appear to be protected
in such a site, or by the slots between picnic table boards.
(The newer concrete tables don’t seem to attract the larvae,
and I found only one old cocoon on a ponderosa trunk.)
Following studies of spinning behavior (Van der Kloot &
Williams 1955a,b,c) in the Carroll Williams lab at Harvard
in the 1950s, Jim Sternburg and Gil Waldbauer of the
University of Illinois published in the 1960s and 1970s
several papers (Waldbauer & Sternburg 1967a,b) on the
ecology of cocoon spinning in Hyalophora cecropia. The
wonderful diversity of cocoon structures and spinning habits
of other saturniids, and other moth families, has since been
largely ignored, as lamented by Tuskes, et al. (1996), who
In the same area one can find the cocoons of Hyalophora
posed these questions:
columbia gloveri on the low growing, very thorny Ceanothus
How effective is the cocoon as a defense against specific fendleri. These cocoons are spun in the outer envelope of
predators or parasitoids?
persistent foliage (Fig. 2), much as H. euryalus spins its
cocoon
in the quite similar C. cordulatus in the California
How much protection does the cocoon provide against the
Sierra
Nevada.
Elsewhere, in the Rocky Mts. and Great
elements, in terms of pupal dehydration and
Volume 53, Number 2
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News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
11
2
1
4
Fig. 1. Agapema homogena cocoon spun on trunk of Fig. 3. Cocoon of Eupackardia calleta spun on ocotillo, Sta.
ponderosa pine. Mt. Lemmon, Pima Co. AZ
Cruz Co. AZ
B
4
3
2C
Fig. 2. Cocoon of Hyalophora columbia gloveri on Ceanothus fendleri, Mt. Lemmon, Pima Co., AZ
40
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
1
6
2
7
7
Fig. 4. Cocoon of Rothschildia cincta on Jatropha, Kitt
Peak rd., Baboquivari Mts., Pima Co., AZ.
4
Fig. 5. TOP left: Rothschildia cincta on Jatropha, Pima Co.
AZ, Baboquivari Mts.right: R. lebeau forbesi on
Zanthoxylum, Cameron Co. TX. BOTTOM left: Hyalophora
euryalus, Nevada Co. CA “loose” foothill form. right: H.
euryalus, Contra Costa Co. CA, compact valley form.
4
4
Fig. 6. Examples of open mesh cocoons in Old and New World
saturniid genera. TOP: Ceranchia appollina , Madagascar.
CENTER left: Agapema homogena Pima Co., AZ ; right:
Agapema anona Sta. Cruz Co. AZ. BOTTOM: Saturnia
mendocino Nevada Co. CA.
Basin, gloveri usually spins near the ground among thick
twigs and leaves of undergrowth at the base of its host. Shiny
silken bands spun into the outer cocoon closely resemble
the bark of hosts such as choke cherry, bitterbrush, wild
rose, and willow. These striations are less prominent in the
cocoon of Arizona gloveri.
In Hyalophora species, the spinning habit seems to
correspond to the growth form of regional hosts (Fig. 5).
Populations of H. euryalus in the northern California
Central Valley are primarily willow feeders. Here they spin
a very compact cocoon with a dense outer envelope, located
Volume 53, Number 2
41
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
high above potential flood levels and in open view. I have
seen a similar cocoon in the deserts of Baja California, but
lighter in color as in Eupackardia. In the nearby Sierra
foothills, I often find cocoons with a relatively larger outer
cocoon of somewhat irregular shape and a wider gap between
the inner and outer cocoon than in the valley cocoon
phenotype. On the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and
throughout most of its range, euryalus spins a cocoon
intermediate in compactness, often nearly round and pointed
at the “valve” end. What is the significance of this
geographic variation in cocoon morphology? One is tempted
to conclude that the dense valley type resists predation, that
the Baja form reflects sunlight, while in the foothills the pupa
is somewhat insulated from summer’s heat by the cocoon’s
loose construction. These ideas could be tested, as discussed
below. How much of this variation is due to geographic
genetic variation and how much is influenced by
environmental factors?
At the mouth of Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita
Mountains I climbed a steep, rocky slope to reach a stand
of ocotillo. From forty feet away I spotted a bright white
cocoon of Eupackardia calleta, spun right on the branch of
an ocotillo (Fig. 3), among long sharp thorns. The cocoon
is shaped like a gourd, very smooth in texture, and suspended
by a stubby peduncle without attached leaves or twigs
(which might absorb solar energy). Its compact shape and
smooth surface expose a minimum surface area to the sun.
Even in December, I noticed how hot the sun was and was
impressed that the properties of the cocoon must effectively
reflect much of the sun’s energy and prevent overheating
the pupa inside.
The next day, I found a hatched cocoon of Rothschildia cincta
on the spindly branches of limberbush (Jatropha
cardiophylla) at 4000 feet on the grade to Kitt Peak in the
Baboquivari Mts (Fig. 4). This small deciduous shrub with
its open radiating branches offers no concealment, and the
cocoon was just as conspicuous as the calleta. The smooth
dull white cocoon is very similar to that of calleta, although
more elongated, and must similarly reflect sunlight. The
closely related R. lebeau forbesi spins an identical cocoon
and occupies similar thorn scrub in coastal Texas and Mexico
(Fig. 5). Toward the southern extent of its distribution in
Costa Rica, lebeau is found in a seasonally dry deciduous
tropical forest, and so passes in the cocoon a dormant season
of drought and heat. Rothschildia lebeau forbesi and R.
cincta are the two northern-most species of this neo-tropical
genus. Other Rothschildia species spin a darker cocoon with
an irregular shape and loose, corrugated texture, suspended
by an attachment, altogether similar to Samia or
Callosamia. The similarity of the cocoons of lebeau and cincta
to that of E. calleta is likely a derived condition of convergent
adaptation to heat and drought, rather than one based on
taxonomic relationship.
Volume 53, Number 2
feeds on the very densely branched shrub Condalia. Eggs
are laid in masses in the fall and the larvae emerge in early
spring, maturing and spinning before the hot summer
begins. Cocoons are typically spun in tight clusters near the
central host trunk, where they are protected by thorny
branches and very difficult to reach. The cocoon is of an
open mesh, fish net construction, similar in form to that of
the related Saturnia species in California, which also pass
the hot summer as a cocoon. The Agapema cocoon is a very
light tan in color, not particularly camouflaged; Saturnia
mendocino is a dark brown, very close to the color of the
bark of its host, manzanita. Ric Peigler, who has written
more about the natural history of cocoons than most recent
authors (Peigler 1993), points out that the mesh cocoon is
found world-wide in other Saturnia and related genera (Fig.
6) , and may serve to allow moisture to drain from the cocoon
(Peigler & Kendall 1993). The open mesh construction could
also represent a preadaptation to life in the desert, allowing
air circulation to cool the pupa, but in any case the necessary
experimental studies have yet to be done. (The cocoon of the
montane A. homogena has a denser construction, similar
to the cocoons of the many Copaxa species in the mountains
of Mexico.)
In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Agapema anona
delays its flight until midwinter. On two Christmas holiday
visits many years ago, I found adults at the lights of a
telephone booth by the ranger’s office. I had a pleasant chat
with the park ranger, who enjoyed learning the link between
these moths and the dark, red-dotted caterpillars he had
noticed earlier in the year on the little Condalia bush
growing outside the building. He also told me of finding
spectacular larvae on Sapium, which I told him must have
been calleta. Normally breeding during the monsoon season
in southeast Arizona, in the park calleta flies early, usually
in February. Here both saturniids complete larval growth
in the spring and survive the intense heat of summer each
in their own unique cocoon.
On returning this year I found a large visitor’s center had
replaced the previous building. The phone booth was gone
and I didn’t find any adults, only severed wings on the
ground around two large flood lamps. The well-watered
Condalia is now nearly a tree, with a small sign proclaiming
it to be Condalia globosa, a species with particularly small
leaves, and a new species record for Agapema. The story of
the winter moths hadn’t been passed on, so I treated the
unsuspecting park staff to my little lecture before leaving
to hike in the Ajo Mountains.
The Saturniidae are surely master craftsmen among cocoon
spinners, but the most cryptic cocoon I have seen must be
that spun by the puss caterpillar, a notodontid. I took a
female at light in Hope Valley, Alpine Co. California in the
1970s and identified the species as Cerura scolopendrina, a
phonetically pleasing name that sounds as much like an
Agapema anona is a fall-flying Arizona saturniid whose larva Italian opera singer as a moth. (Inevitably, taxonomists
42
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Summer 2011
Competitor and mate
signaling in satyrines
couldn’t resist changing the genus to Furcula, aesthetically
an unfortunate choice.) The larvae spin a cocoon of exactly
the same color and texture of willow bark, and taper the
edges of the cocoon smoothly into the surface of the host
twig, leaving no shadow or outline. I can’t imagine many
such cocoons are lost to predators. As an experiment, larvae
could be reared in sleeves under natural conditions, and
the cocoons subsequently left exposed to monitor through
the winter.
For a high school science fair or college research project,
cocoons and pupae offer an advantage over larvae and
adults. They don’t feed and so require little special care,
and are available both during the fall and winter months
of the school year and also during the summer, in the case
of multi-voltine species. Diapausing pupae can be stored
until needed. To study thermoregulation (as discussed for
Eupackardia and Rothschildia, for example) a student could
insert a thermocouple into the cocoon, or surgically implant
it into the pupa, and monitor solar heating under various
conditions. Perhaps a proxy for a pupa, such as a gelatin
capsule of the same specific density, could be substituted to
avoid injury to the pupa. As a control, the cocoon could be
painted to change its albedo, or another cocoon type, such
as a Hyalophora, could be tested. Modern, hand-held,
battery-powered recording and graphing oscilloscopes are
available to perform this work even in the field. A small
instrumented vessel, painted dull black and containing a
given volume of water, could be used as a standard reference
in recording the thermal properties of various cocoons.
To study the ability of cocoons to control water loss, periodic
weighings could reveal the rate of dehydration of pupae both
enclosed in a cocoon, under varied conditions, and of
exposed pupae. The ability of a cocoon to resist various
predators could be monitored unprotected in the field or in
cages designed to allow entry by certain predators and
exclude others.
A female moth lays an egg on a particular host plant of her
choice, often one of several species used as hosts in a given
plant community. With its limited mobility, the larva must
consign its fate to this circumstance. Several weeks later,
if it survives, the mature and nearly blind caterpillar ceases
feeding and begins cocoon spinning behavior. Some species
spin among foliage not far from where they fed, while others
may wander a considerable distance. What are the key
stimuli that determine the choice of spinning site? What
are the kind, arrangement and minimum number of key
attachment points upon which the larva spins its cocoon?
The Harvard and University of Illinois studies (cited here)
explored these questions for only a few species, but could
be used to help design relatively inexpensive studies for
many other taxa and their unique cocoons.
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
experiments to better understand the biophysics of cocoons
and the adaptive significance of spinning behavior. I’m sure
that the many collectors and breeders of moths would be
happy to help provide livestock and suggestions to carry out
such studies.
Suggested References and Literature Cited
Collins, M.M. 2007. Moth Catcher: An Evolutionist’s Journey through
Canyon and Pass. Univ. Nevada Press. (esp. life history of
Eupackardia calleta, pp. 41-45, and Ch. 2 as a hiking guide to Madera
Canyon ).
Duncan, J.B. 1941. The biological control of Platysamia gloveri (Str.)
with special reference to enemies of the pupal stage (Saturniidae,
Lepidoptera). Unpublished master’s thesis, Univ. Utah, Salt Lake City.
Haskins, C.P. and E.F. Haskins. 1958. Note on the inheritance of behavior
patterns for food selection and cocoon spinning in F1 hybrids of
Callosamia promethea X C. angulifera. Behaviour 13:89-95.
Kevan, P.G., T.S. Jensen and J.D. Shorthouse. 1982. Body temperatures
and behavioral thermoregulation of high arctic woolly-bear caterpillars
and pupae (Gynaephora rossii, Lymantriidae:Lepidoptera) and the
importance of sunshine. Arctic and Alpine Research 14:125-136.
Louinbos, L.P. 1975. The cocoon spinning behaviour of the Chinese oak
silkworm, Antheraea pernyi. Animal Behaviour 23:843-853.
Peigler, R.S. 1993. Wild silks of the world. American Entomologist. 39:151161.
Peigler, R.S. and R.O. Kendall. 1993. A review of the genus Agapema
(Lepidoptera:Saturniidae). Proc. Denver Mus. Nat. Hist. ser. 3(3):122.
Tuskes, P.M., J.P. Tuttle, and M.M. Collins. 1996. The Wild Silk Moths of
North America. Cornell University Press.
Van der Kloot, W.G. and C.M. Williams. 1953a. Cocoon construction by
the cecropia silkworm. I. The role of the external environment.
Behaviour 5:141-156.
_____. 1953b. Cocoon construction by the cecropia silkworm. II. The
role of the internal environment. Behaviour 5:157-174.
_____. 1953c. Cocoon construction by the cecropia silkworm. III. The
alteration of spinning behavior by chemical and surgical techniques.
Behaviour 6:233-255.
Wagner, W.H. and M.R. Mayfield. 1980. Foodplants and cocoon
construction in Antheraea polyphemus (Lepidoptera:Saturniidae) in
southern Michigan. GreatLakes Entomol. 13:131-138.
Waldbauer, G.P. and J.G. Sternburg. 1967a. Host plants and the location
of baggy and
compact cocoons of Hyalophora cecropia
(Lepidoptera:Saturniidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 60:97-101.
_____. 1967b. Differential predation on the cocoons of Hyalophora
cecropia (Lepidoptera:Saturniidae) spun on shrubs and trees. Ecology
48:312-315.
I hope the questions posed at the beginning of this article,
and my subsequent remarks, will encourage biology
teachers and students to design simple but valuable
Volume 53, Number 2
43
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
Some New U.S.A. Records and Other
interesting Pyraloidea from Texas
Charles Bordelon and Ed Knudson
Texas Lepidoptera Survey, 8517 Burkhart Road, Houston, Texas 77055
The purpose of this article is to provide documentation for
8 species of Pyraloidea, which are new USA or state records
from Texas. Most of these have previously been reported in
the Season Summary of the Lepidopterists’ Society, and one
was previously reported in the Journal of the Lepidopterists’
Society. Further pertinent information is given in the species
accounts below.
Big Thicket National Preserve, Turkey CreekUnit, Tyler
Co., TX, 14-V-94, Bordelon & Knudson. The specimen was
identified by Dr. Solis from the specimen. It also is reported
from Florida and Texas by Heppner, 2003, and a female
(from Missouri) is also illustrated in that publication.
The male differs from similar spp. (D. funeralis and D.
maculalis) by having the white hindwing macule thinner and
prolonged to the anal margin. In the female, as represented
Crambidae
in Heppner, 2003, there is a large white macule near the base
Pseudopyrausta marginalis Dyar
of the hindwing that is partially divided by a black bar from
This species, which is closely related to Pseudopyrausta the costa; hence the species name, we assume.
santatalis (B.& McD.), was brought to our attention by
Samea druchachalis Dyar
Maury Heiman, who photographed and collected several
examples in Devine, Medina Co., TX. It was subsequently The only known Texas example of this species (fig 4) is from
identified by Dr.M. Alma Solis from live photos and (later) Santa Ana NWR, Hidalgo Co.,TX, 14-XI-81, E. Knudson.
It was identified from a photo by Eugene Munroe and later
from specimens.
confirmed by Dr. Solis. It does not closely resemble any
P. marginalis differs from P. santatalis by having a darker
other TX species in this genus. Recently, this, or a related
orange ground color and smaller semihyaline macules on
species has been reported from Florida.
the wings. Both species are often sympatric and synchronic
in Texas, inhabiting the southwestern part of the state from Sysracera subulalis Gn.
the lower Rio Grande Valley to the Big Bend region, including This species was first reported from Texas as Araschnopis
the southern Texas Hill Country along the Balcones subulalis by Blanchard & Knudson, 1985, and illustrated
Escarpment.
with a black & white photo. We include this with generic
County records for P. marginalis include Brewster, Terrell, correction and color illustration, since it is a rare and
Val Verde, Uvalde, Medina, Starr, and Hidalgo Co’s. The interesting species about which little is known. It is also
illustrated specimen (fig.1) is a male from Study Butte, reported from Florida by Heppner, 2003. The illustrated
Brewster Co., TX, 5-X-99, collected by Bordelon & Knudson. male specimen (fig.5) is from Estero Llano Grande State
Park, Hidalgo Co.,TX, 15-X-07, Bordelon & Knudson.
Lamprosema sinaloanensis Dyar
Aponia aponianalis (Druce)
This attractive species has been known from extreme
southern Texas for many years, having been found by Andre This is an apparent new USA record from Big Bend National
Blanchard and Ed Knudson in the late 1970’s. It was Park, Chisos Basin, Brewster Co., TX, 7-IX-10, C. Bordelon
assumed by them to be undescribed, but was recently (male,fig 6). It is otherwise known from Mexico and Central
identified by Dr. Solis from specimens. In Texas, this moth America.
is limited to the Brownsville area in Cameron Co., where it The genus Aponia was created by Munroe, 1964, along with
is mainly found in some of the remaining palm groves along new species descriptions, keys, and illustrations of the
the Rio Grande. The illustrated specimen (fig.2) is from species known at that time. This publication was kindly
Audubon Sabal Palm Grove Sanctuary, Cameron Co., TX, made available by Dr. Solis, and was the basis of the
7-VI-97, Bordelon & Knudson; this being the most recent determination of the Texas specimen. A similar species, A.
known record.
itzalis Munroe, also occurs in Mexico and Central America,
L. sinaloanensis differs from the three other known species but does not match the Texas specimen; at least in wing
in Texas by lacking white macules on the forewing and by pattern, as closely as does A. aponianalis. A. aponianalis
is also illustrated by Druce, 1881-1900, and this rendering
having a blue median band on the hindwing.
closely resembles the Texas example.
Desmia subdivisalis Grote
This species is known to us from one male specimen (fig3);
44
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News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Fig. 1: Pseudopyrausta marginalis
Fig. 2: Lamprosema sinaloanensis
Fig. 3: Desmia subdivisalis
Fig. 4: Samea druchachalis
Fig. 5: Sysracera subulalis
Fig. 6: Aponia aponianalis
Fig. 7: Salobrena vacuana
Fig. 8: Ragonotia dotalis
Volume 53, Number 2
45
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Pyralidae
Salobrena vacuana (Walker)
Volume 53, Number 2
The Audubon Society (former owners of the Audubon Sabal Palm
Grove Sanctuary); Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept.; and the National
Park Service (Big Bend National Park and Big Thicket National
Preserve). Special thanks to Susan Lee-Bordelon for her assistance
with the figures on the plate illustrations.
This species appears to be known in Texas from several
female specimens. The male probably has modifications to
the costa of the forewing like others in this genus. It is Literature cited:
distinct from other Chrysaugines in Texas by the pointed Blanchard, A. & E. Knudson, 1985. New U.S. records and Other
apices of the forewing, color, and pattern. Determination
Interesting Moths from Texas, Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society,
39 (1), pp. 1-8.
by Dr. Solis from a specimen.
Druce, H., 1881-1900. Biologia Centrali-Americana,
Insecta,
The illustrated example (fig.7) is from Audubon Sabal Palm
Lepidoptera-Heterocera Vol . III.
Grove Sanctuary, Cameron Co., TX, 9-XI-00, Bordelon & Heppner, J.B. 2003. Lepidoptera of Florida, Part 1: Introduction and
Catalogue, IN: Arthropods of Florida, Vol. 17: Florida Dept. of
Knudson. It is also known from neighboring Hidalgo Co.,
Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry,
TX.
Gainesvillle.
Ragonotia dotalis (Hulst)
This Phycitine Pyralid is included because it is apparently
known from one locality in southwestern Texas. It also
occurs in desert areas in the southwestern USA. The
illustrated specimen (female, fig.8) is from Study Butte,
Brewster Co., TX, 11-IV-11, Bordelon & Knudson.
Munroe, E., 1964. Some Neotropical Genera resembling Epicorsia
Hubner. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada, No. 33 p.
27-30.
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler, 2009. Moths of Western North America,
University of California Press, Berkely & Los Angeles.
A moderate-sized moth with delicate pastel coloration on the
forewing, it is also illustrated in Powell & Opler, 2009.
Many of the above species are also illustrated in the Moth
Photographers Group website.
Acknowledgements:
The authors are especially grateful to Dr. Maria Alma Solis of the
Smithsonian Institution for her invaluable assistance in studying
and authoritatively determining most of the species in this paper.
We also thank the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, for providing access
and permits for collecting in Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge,
Announcement
From the Editor’s Desk...
ICE 2012: LEPIDOPTERA PHYLOGENY AND
SYSTEMATICS SYMPOSIUM
Since I’ve already said my farewell (News, Vol. 52, number
4) I’ll try not to repeat myself too much. This really is my
At the International Congress of Entomology in Daegu, last issue of the NEWS. Honest.
South Korea (August 19-25) there will be a full two-day James Adams will be taking up the duties with the next issue
symposium on Phylogeny and Evolution of Lepidoptera so all correspondence, articles, comments, criticisms, etc.
organized by Akito Y. Kawahara, Soowon Cho and Thomas should be directed to him.
His email is
J. Simonsen. The keynote seminar will be delivered by Prof. [email protected] or you can send a snail-mail to
Niels P. Kristensen, Natural History Museum of Denmark. him at 346 Sunset Drive SE, Calhoun, Georgia 30701-4678.
Other invited speakers (some still awaiting final
One of the most difficult parts of this job -- and one pretty
confirmation) include: Drs. Richard Brown, Donald R.
much out of the editor’s control -- is getting plenty of
Davis, David Lees, Giovanni Fagua, André Freitas, Sangmi
submissions of material. So help make James’ first issue
Lee, Carlos Lopez-Vaamonde, Jadranka Rota, Daniel
(and subsequent ones) a little bit easier by sending him
Rubinoff, Jay-Cheon Sohn, Felix A. H. Sperling, Niklas
something to include in future issues.
Wahlberg, Shen-Horn Yen, and Andreas Zwick. The program
is not yet finalized, and we are aiming for an exciting mix of This has been a great gig and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. It’s
invited and submitted talks. We therefore encourage been a great opportunity to meet some wonderful people.
everyone with an interest in Lepidoptera to attend the My thanks to the Executive Council for giving me the chance
congress, and submit a talk to the symposium. If you would in the first place.
like to participate in the symposium, please contact one of And now I’m starting to repeat myself, so I’ll just say
the organizers. For details on registration, fees and deadlines ‘goodbye’.
please consult the official website: http://www.ice2012.org/
Dale Clark
46
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Conservation Matters:
Contributions from the Conservation Committee
Problems with Listing Imperiled
Butterflies in Southern Florida
Marc C. Minno
600 NW 35th Terrace Gainesville, FL 32607
Florida, like California, faces butterfly declines even greater
than most other places. There are at least 18 imperiled
butterflies in southern Florida (Table 1). Most of these have
no legal protection, recovery plans, or funding for research.
The purpose of this article is to examine the legal protection
of imperiled species and how listing may help or hinder the
conservation of butterflies in Florida.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 gives the
Department of the Interior authority to protect species of
fish, wildlife, and plants that are listed as threatened or
endangered in the U.S. or elsewhere. The purposes of the
ESA are to 1) provide a means of conserving the ecosystems
upon which endangered and threatened species depend, 2)
provide a program for conserving those species, and 3)
achieve the purposes of international treaties and
conventions.
The ESA requires the Secretary of the Interior to list species
as Endangered or Threatened, to designate critical habitat
for these species, and to develop and implement recovery
plans for the conservation and survival of listed species. It
also provides for land acquisition, cooperation with states,
other Federal agencies, and other countries, and compliance
with the provisions of the Convention of International Trade
in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and
the Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife
Preservation in the Western Hemisphere (Western
Convention).
[email protected]
The slow action by USFWS in reviewing and listing species
prompted WildEarth Guardians and the Center for Biological
Diversity to file lawsuits against Ken Salazar, Secretary of
the Interior. Settlement agreements were reached in May
2011 with WildEarth Guardians and in July 2011 with the
Center for Biological Diversity. The USFWS will move
forward with a workplan filed in the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia on May 10, 2011. The workplan is
available online at (http;//www.fws.gov/endangered/
improving_ESA/listing_workplan.html). The USFWS will
review 251 candidate species for listing under the ESA over
the next six years. Included on the workplan are the Miami
Blue, Florida Leafwing, and Bartram’s Hairstreak. The
other imperiled butterflies in southern Florida are not being
considered for candidate status at this time, except perhaps
Euphyes pilatka klotsi, which has been proposed by the
Center for Biological Diversity.
At the state level of government, the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC) has legal
authority to protect listed species wildlife via Chapter 379
(Fish and Wildlife Conservation) of the Florida Statutes and
Chapter 68A-27 (Rules Relating to Endangered or
Threatened Species) of the Florida Administrative Code.
The FFWCC rules outline the listing procedures, prohibited
acts, exceptions allowed through permits, and give lists of
Endangered, Threatened, and Species of Special Concern
animals.
The FFWCC status categories applied to animals on the state
list were revised on November 8, 2010. If a species occurs
in Florida and is listed by the USFWS, the Federal
designation is now used by the FFWCC. In addition, animals
previously listed as Endangered by FFWCC, but not
USFWS, were changed to State-designated Threatened. The
only butterflies listed by FFWCC are the Schaus’ Swallowtail
(Federally-designated Endangered) and the Miami Blue
The Endangered Schaus’ Swallowtail (Heraclides (State-designated Threatened) (FFWCC 2010a).
aristodemus ponceanus) is the only Florida butterfly
currently listed by the USFWS. Three other Florida Assessment of Butterfly Populations in Southern
butterflies, Miami Blue (Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri), Florida
Bartram’s Hairstreak (Strymon acis bartrami), and Florida The incremental decline and loss of butterflies in southern
Leafwing (Anaea troglodyta floridalis), have long been Florida has been poorly documented. Lenczewski (1980)
candidates under review for listing. They are currently mentioned changes in the abundance of some species, such
given a listing priority of 3 (1 is the highest, 12 is the lowest).
The ESA specifies prohibited acts harmful to listed species,
exceptions for scientific and other purposes, penalties for
violations, and that enforcement is given to the Department
of Interior, Treasury Department, and the Coast Guard.
Within the Department of the Interior, the US Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) is the lead agency for listing and
enforcing the ESA.
Volume 53, Number 2
47
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
as the Miami Blue, in Everglades National Park. Leston et
al. (1982) noted the loss of the Miami Blue from mainland
Florida. Minno and Emmel (1993) discussed the loss of three
other butterflies from the Florida Keys. Other studies have
focused on specific species such as the Schaus’ Swallowtail
(Covell and Rawson 1973, Emmel 1988), Florida Leafwing
and Bartram’s Scrub-Hairstreak (Salvato 1999, 2005;
Salvato and Salvato 2010a, b, c; Salvato and Hennessey
2003, 2004), and Miami Blue (Calhoun et al. 2000; Saarinen
2009).
Volume 53, Number 2
My data indicate that imperiled butterflies have disappeared
from large conservation lands where no or very limited
mosquito spraying occurs, such as Everglades National Park
and Biscayne National Park. Some imperiled butterflies
survive in urban parks where occasional spraying or drift
may actually be protecting them by killing off parasitoids.
Although mosquito spraying likely plays some role in the
decline of butterflies in southern Florida, other factors such
as habitat loss, fragmentation, exotic predatory ants (Forys
et al. 2001, Paris 2011), and climate change need to be more
closely examined. While multiple factors are involved, I
believe that exotic predatory ants are likely one of the
primary causes of the butterfly disappearances in southern
Florida. The Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta),
Mexican Twig Ant (Pseudomyrmex gracilis), and Little Fire
Ant (Wasmannia auropunctata) are now ubiquitous in the
region.
The Florida Committee on Rare and Endangered Plants and
Animals (FCREPA) (Deyrup and Franz 1994) provided a
comprehensive assessment of the status of butterflies in the
state and unofficially listed 22 southern Florida butterflies
as endangered, threatened, species of special concern, or
rare. However, neither the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
nor the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission,
which have sole legal authority to list threatened and Listing Benefits and Problems
endangered species of wildlife, acted upon the published
Imperiled butterflies in southern Florida are mostly found
FCREPA recommendations.
on public and private conservation lands. There are vast
Since August 2006 I have conducted monthly to bimonthly tracts of conservation lands in southern Florida. During
surveys in southern Florida to tally butterfly relative the 1980s and 1990s, the Endangered Schaus’ Swallowtail
abundance and species diversity (Minno and Minno 2009, and other listed species helped justify land acquisition in
2010). Based on nearly five years of observation, I have southern Florida by Federal and State agencies and
concluded that two species of skippers unique to Florida organizations such as The Nature Conservancy. The Florida
(Hesperia meskei pinocayo and Epargyreus zestos oberon) Natural Areas Inventory estimates that, as of April 2011,
are extinct and that two other butterflies (Heraclides 67% of Collier and Miami-Dade counties and 96% of Monroe
andraemon bonhotei and Cyclargus ammon) are extirpated County are local government, State, Federal, or private
(Minno 2010). There is debate about whether the latter two conservation land (available at http://www.fnai.org/pdf/
species were really resident or just temporary colonizers. I MAxCounty_201104.pdf). These percentages are somewhat
consider them to be native species.
misleading regarding butterflies because large marine
Heraclides andraemon bonhotei had been a breeding resident preserves are included. However, Everglades National Park
in the upper Keys at least since the early 1970s (Brown and Big Cypress National Preserve together comprise over
1973a, b). It was very locally distributed in remote areas of two million acres and there are many other parks, preserves,
the upper Keys, often in the same areas as the Schaus’ and conservation areas. Although there appears to be a lot
Swallowtail. Cyclargus ammon became well established in of high quality habitat available to imperiled butterflies on
the 1990s on Big Pine Key, but was greatly impacted by existing conservation lands, much of the potential habitat
Hurricane Wilma in 2005. The last two individuals were is not occupied.
reported in 2009 by Paula Cannon and Alana Edwards, and While Federal and State wildlife laws have helped to
soon after by Chad Anderson (personal communication). At discourage poaching of imperiled butterflies in Florida, they
least 18 other butterfly species in southern Florida are have also become a hindrance to recovery. Listed species
imperiled and a number of these need urgent conservation near extinction, such as the Miami Blue, become stuck in a
action if they are to survive much longer (Table 1).
kind of limbo because agency staff are often reluctant to
Causes of Decline
make decisions on proposed research and restoration
strategies where the outcome is uncertain. Interagency
agreements can be glacially slow to establish, and USFWS
and FFWCC sometimes have conflicting opinions on some
issues, such as captive breeding, that stifle restoration
efforts. If nothing is done, the butterflies are likely to
disappear.
Mosquito control spraying has usually been blamed for
declines of butterflies in southern Florida (Eliazar and
Emmel 1991, Emmel 1991, Salvato 2001, Hennessey and
Habeck 1991). The Florida Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services reviews mosquito control spraying
activities via the Florida Coordinating Council on Mosquito
Control.
Impacts to wildlife are assessed by the Dr. Thomas C. Emmel and students the University of Florida
Subcommittee on Imperiled Species and recommendations were very successful in captive raising the Schaus’
Swallowtail during the 1990s with permits from the USFWS
are then forwarded to the Council for action.
and FFWCC. Similarly, Dr. Jaret Daniels was able to rear
48
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News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Cuban Crescent (Anthanassa frisia)
Florida Duskywing (Ephyriades brunnea floridensis)
Martial Scrub-Hairstreak (Strymon martialis)
Florida Leafwing (Anaea troglodyta floridalis)
Florida White (Appias drusilla neumoegenii)
Bartram’s Scrub-Hairstreak (Strymon acis bartrami)
Volume 53, Number 2
49
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
thousands of Miami Blues in captivity at the University of
Florida (Olle 2005). However, acquiring permits for the
captive breeding has often been a daunting task. Funding
for captive breeding of listed butterflies in Florida has been
a roller coaster ride with great uncertainty about renewal
of short-term grants.
Volume 53, Number 2
in Florida through the State Wildlife Grant Program.
FFWCC has taken the lead in organizing the Imperiled
Butterflies of Florida Workgroup. Mary Truglio with
FFWCC maintains a web site (http://share2.myfwc.com/
IBWG/default.aspx) to share information about imperiled
butterflies in southern Florida and has diligently organized
Lack of Recovery for Listed Butterflies in Southern and chaired regular meetings of Workgroup. Participants
have included staff from USFWS, FFWCC, state and national
Florida
parks in southern Florida, land management, mosquito
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has provided funding for control, Miami Blue Chapter of NABA, lepidopterists
research on some imperiled Florida butterflies. For years societies, and others interested in helping imperiled
USFWS helped fund research, captive breeding, and habitat butterflies.
restoration of the Schaus’ Swallowtail. Just recently the
Although these meetings have been useful in making people
Service approved some emergency funds for research on the
aware of the imperiled butterflies in southern Florida, after
Schaus’ Swallowtail. USFWS has helped fund research on
several years of meetings, I feel that very little has been done
the Miami Blue and my surveys for Hesperia meskei pinocayo
to help with the recovery. Time is of the essence to the
and Epargyreus zestos oberon.
imperiled butterflies. With each passing year populations
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also have declined, such as the recent loss of the Miami Blue from
helped fund captive breeding and research on the Miami Blue. Bahia Honda State Park (Olle 2010). Some imperiled
In addition, Ricardo Zambrano with FFWCC, just organized butterflies in southern Florida are now so localized that they
and participated in surveys to look for the Schaus’ are perhaps just one hurricane or tropical storm away from
Swallowtail in May and June 2011. FFWCC recently funded extinction.
Dean and Sally Jue with the Florida Natural Areas Inventory
to conduct multi-year status surveys for imperiled butterflies
Table 1. Imperiled butterflies of southern Florida.
SCIENTIFIC NAME
COMMON NAME
Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus
1
Strymon acis bartrami
Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri
Schaus’ Swallowtail
Bartram’s Scrub-Hairstreak
2
Anaea troglodyta floridalis
Eunica tatila tatilista
Euphyes pilatka klotsi
Pyrisitia dina helios
Appias drusilla neumoegenii
Miami Blue
Florida Leafwing
Florida Purplewing
Palatka Skipper (Keys population)
Dina Yellow
Florida White
Chlorostrymon maesites
Amethyst Hairstreak
Chlorostrymon simaethis
Silver-Banded Hairstreak
Eumaeus atala florida
Ministrymon azia
Atala
Gray Ministreak
Strymon martialis
Martial Scrub-Hairstreak
Anthanassa frisia
Cuban Crescent
Eunica monima
Dingy Purplewing
Junonia genoveva
Tropical Buckeye
Siproeta stelenes
Malachite
Ephyriades brunnea floridensis
Florida Duskywing
1 = Federally Endangered.
2 = State-designated Threatened.
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Given that tens of thousands of dollars have been spent on
the recovery of the Schaus’ Swallowtail and the Miami Blue,
what has been accomplished? We have learned a lot about
the biology and ecology of these butterflies. However,
neither butterfly has been recovered. In fact, rather than
recovery, the Schaus’ Swallowtail and Miami Blue are headed
toward extinction in Florida. Despite all of the research
and captive breeding programs, wild populations of both of
these butterflies have decreased in distribution and
abundance to just a few hundred individuals per year or less.
Listing Pros and Cons
Benefits to imperiled species listed under the ESA include
acquisition of critical habitat, protection from poaching, and
funding for research and recovery. Land acquisition will
not likely be needed to preserve critical habitat for imperiled
butterflies in southern Florida, because they already occur
mostly on public and private conservation land. Additional
protection against poaching will not likely be needed because
collecting on Federal and State conversation lands is
prohibited except through permits, and there is law
enforcement against poaching of imperiled butterflies in most
places in southern Florida. One of the arguments in favor
of listing is that funding for research and recovery is more
likely to be granted for listed species. While that is probably
true, neither USFWS nor FFWCC have adequately funded
monitoring, research, and recovery of the two species that
are currently listed. How can they possibly handle more
than a dozen others?
The Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden
recently created a Blue Butterfly Garden with host and
nectar plants that are favored by the Miami Blue. It would
be worth trying to reintroduce the Miami Blue into the
Garden and other conservation lands in the Key West area.
Richard Anderson documented Miami Blues at the Garden
in the early 1970s. Although Key West and nearby Stock
Island are some of the most urbanized islands in the Florida
Keys, I have found the greatest abundance and number of
species in the few parks that exist there. If the Miami Blue
and other imperiled butterflies are to survive, new colonies
must be created. The Botanical Garden appears to be one
of the best places to try reintroduction because of excellent
facilities, habitat, and staff. All is ready, except for the
Miami Blues.
There are many legal and logistical hurdles to cross before
any such plans for reintroduction could be accomplished
because the Miami Blue is a State listed butterfly and a
candidate species for listing by the USFWS. In 2005, the
Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, filed for an
injunction against releases of captive bred Miami Blue
butterflies in the Florida Keys because the District is
mandated to protect public health and the butterfly releases
could have impacted control activities (Hribar and Fussell
2005). While no injunction was granted the FFWCC agreed
to proceed with releases only in areas that were not sprayed
Volume 53, Number 2
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
by mosquito control districts in Everglades National Park,
Biscayne National Park, and conservation lands on Key
Largo (Olle 2005). As it turned out, the releases of captive
reared Miami Blues into areas where they formerly occurred
did not result in establishing any lasting colonies. If the
releases had been made in areas sprayed for mosquitoes, it
is likely that the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District
would have been blamed for the failures. The threat to
public health from mosquito borne diseases is real because
the District has been trying to eradicate an unprecedented
outbreak of Dengue Fever in Key West the last few years.
In addition to the legal troubles, there is no longer a captive
Miami Blue breeding colony to supply stock for
reintroductions. Although FFWCC has granted permission
to establish a new captive colony at the University of Florida,
the USFWS is opposed to the proposal, at least until after a
study of the remaining population in the Key West National
Wildlife Refuge is completed next year.
Partnerships and Restoration Teams Rather Than
Listing
With butterflies on the edge of extinction, restoration
scientists need the flexibility to try many different ideas. That
includes having the ability to respond quickly and the
freedom to experiment with field releases of captive bred
individuals. Once listed, the butterflies become locked into
a rigid system within which it is difficult to do research and
restoration. Unless the agencies charged with protecting
listed wildlife put forth a concerted, well-funded recovery
effort as soon as possible, the Schaus’ Swallowtail and
Miami Blue are not likely to survive in Florida.
I propose that rather than listing, it would be better to put
those efforts and funds toward a formal agreement between
the USFWS and FFWCC to cooperatively work in
partnership on restoring imperiled butterflies in southern
Florida. USFW already has the Partners for Fish and
Wildlife and Candidate for Conservation programs to help
conserve habitat for listed species on private lands, and is
working in partnerships with states via State Wildlife Action
Plans. USFWS has partnerships with the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers and FFWCC to protect Threatened and
Endangered wildlife in the Everglades. So why not form
partnerships and assemble recovery teams to save our
imperiled butterflies in southern Florida? The team
structure already exists with the Imperiled Butterflies of
Florida Workgroup. It will likely take years and a lot of
money to recover the imperiled species in southern Florida.
Success will depend heavily upon commitment to the project
and long-term funding.
I am hopeful that partnerships can be developed and
recovery teams set to work on conserving the imperiled
butterflies of southern Florida without listing. To continue
on the same old path of listing with no subsequent action
will mean doom for some of the world’s rarest butterflies.
51
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
REFERENCES
Brown, L. N. 1973a. Populations of a new swallowtail butterfly found
in the Florida Keys. Florida Naturalist (April):25.
Brown, L. N. 1973b. Populations of Papilio andraemon bonhotei
Sharpe and Papilio aristodemus ponceanus Schaus (Papilionidae)
in Biscayne National Monument, Florida. Journal Lepidopterists’
Society 27(2):136-140.
Calhoun, J. V., J. R. Slotten, and M. H. Salvato. 2000. The rise and fall
of tropical blues in Florida: Cyclargus ammon and Cyclargus thomasi
bethunebakeri (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Holarctic Lepidoptera
7(1):13-20.
Covell, C. V., Jr. and G. W. Rawson. 1973. Project ponceanus: A report
of first efforts to survey and preserve the Schaus swallowtail
(Papilionidae) in southern Florida. Journal Lepidopterists’ Society
27(3):206-210.
Deyrup, M. and R. Franz (eds.). 1994. Rare and Endangered Biota of
Florida. Volume Six, Invertebrates. University Presses of Florida,
Gainesville, Florida. 798 pp.
Eliazar, P. J. and T. C. Emmel. 1991. Adverse impacts to non-target
insects. Pp. 17-19. In: T. C. Emmel and J. C. Tucker (eds.). Mosquito
control pesticides: Ecological impacts and management alternatives.
Scientific Publishers, Gainesville, Florida. 105 pp.
Emmel, T. C. 1988. Habitat requirements and status of the endemic
Schaus swallowtail in the Florida Keys. Final project report GFC-86023. Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, Nongame
Wildlife Section, Tallahassee, Florida. 202 pp.
Emmel, T. C. 1991. Overview: Mosquito control, pesticides, and the
ecosystem. Pp. 9-13. In: Emmel, T. C. and J. C. Tucker (eds.) 1991.
Mosquito control pesticides: Ecological impacts and management
alternatives. Scientific Publishers, Gainesville, Florida. 105 pp.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC). 2003.
Management Plan, Miami Blue, Cyclargus (=Hemiargus) thomasi
bethunebakeri. Tallahassee. 26 pp.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC). 2010a.
Florida’s endangered and threatened species. Tallahassee. Available
at http://myfwc.com/Imperiledspecies/species.htm. 10 pp.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC). 2010b.
Miami blue butterfly revised management plan. Cyclargus thomasi
bethunebakeri. Revised June 2010. 41 pp.
Forys, E. A., A. Quistorff, and C. R. Allen. 2001. Potential fire ant
(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) impact on the endangered Schaus
swallowtail (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). The Florida Entomologist
84(2):254-258.
Hennessey, M. K. and D. H. Habeck. 1991. Effects of mosquito
adulticiding on populations of nontarget, terrestrial arthropods in
the Florida Keys. Final Report to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
University of Florida Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Gainesville.
72 pp.
Hribar, L. J. and E. M. Fussell. 2005. Mosquito control, Miami Blues,
and mass media in Monroe County, Florida. Technical Bulletin of
the Florida Mosquito Control Association 5: 1-41.
Lenczewski, B. 1980. Butterflies of Everglades National Park. National
Park Service Report T-588, Homestead, Florida. 110 pp.
Leston, D., D. S. Smith, and B. Lenczewski. 1982. Habitat diversity and
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in the Florida Keys. Report to the Florida Keys Mosquito Control
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District, Key West. 193 pp.
Minno, M. C. and M. Minno. 2010. Assessing the environmental
effects of mosquito control in the Florida Keys by monitoring butterfly
populations. Report to the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District,
Key West. 97 pp.
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Scientific Publishers, Gainesville, Florida. 168 pp.
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Olle, D. 2010. Who killed all the Miami Blues? American Butterflies
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Paris, T. 2011. Modern threats to the Lepidoptera fauna in the Florida
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conservation. Ph. D. dissertation. University of Florida, Gainesville.
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Salvato, M. H. 1999. Factors influencing the declining populations of
three butterfly species in south Florida and the lower Florida Keys.
Masters Thesis, University of Florida, Gainesville. 176 pp.
Salvato, M. H. 2001. Influence of mosquito control chemicals on
butterflies (Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Hesperiidae) of the lower Florida
Keys. Journal Lepidopterists’ Society 55(1):8-14.
Salvato, M. H. 2003 (2005). Butterfly conservation and hostplant
fluctuations: The relationship between Strymon acis bartrami and
Anaea troglodyta floridalis on Croton linearis in Florida
(Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae and Nymphalidae). Holarctic Lepidoptera
10(1-2):53-57.
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troglodyta floridalis on Big Pine Key. News of the Lepidopterists’
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ecology of Anaea troglodyta floridalis in Everglades National Park.
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Salvato, M. H. and H. L. Salvato. 2010c. Notes on the status and
ecology of Strymon acis bartrami (Lycaenidae) in Everglades National
Park. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 64(3):154-160.
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and natural history of Anaea troglodyta floridalis (Nymphalidae).
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Salvato, M. H. and M. K. Hennessey. 2004. Notes on the status,
natural history and fire-related ecology of Strymon acis bartrami
(Lycaenidae). Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 58(4):223-227.
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News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Metamorphosis...
Julian Donahue
The Society has learned of the death of the following members. our condolences to their families.
of The Lepidopterists’ Society from 1969 through 1989, was
one of the very first members of the Toronto Entomologists’
Association (TEA), and was the Recording Secretary of that
organization 1974-1978, and President 1990-1992. In the
early 1980s he was the Ontario coordinator for The LepSoc
Season Summary; in Ontario he was editor or co-editor for
numerous annual issues of “Ontario Lepidoptera,” and,
among other publications, was a co-author of the Ontario
Hess, Quimby F[erdinand], of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Butterfly Atlas (1991, 167 p.). His lifelong interest in
on 23 December 2010, at the age of 94. Mr. Hess, a member Lepidoptera began when a school teacher brought a cecropia
moth cocoon to class; he was also an ardent birder. Trained
as a Forest Engineer, he ran survey crews and managed
logging camps in northern Ontario before joining the
Ontario Department of Lands and Forests in the early 1940s
as a district forest in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, later
becoming a regional forester in Cochrane and Peterborough.
From 1961 to 1967 he was director of the Ontario Forest
Technical School near Dorset, Ontario. During his career
as a forester he worked on the Ontario Insect Survey in
northern Ontario. Lured by the lepidopteral riches of South
America, he discovered rich collecting in Colombia, Peru,
and Guyana. [extracted from In Memoriam: Quimby Hess,
by Donald Davis, published in Ontario Insects 16(2) 29-30,
February 2011]
Clench, Mary H., Ph.D., of Gainesville, Florida, on 27
June 2011. Dr. Clench, an ornithologist, was the widow of
Harry K. Clench (12 August 1925 - 1 April 1979), co-founder,
with Charles L. Remington, of The Lepidopterists’ Society.
Mary had been a member of the Society from 1980, shortly
after Harry died, to 2000. [information received from
Jacqueline Y. Miller; a biography is being planned for
publication in The Auk]
Lampe, Rudolph of Nürnberg, Germany, in July 2011. Mr.
Lampe, who was primarily interested in wild silk moths
(Saturniidae), had been a member of the Society since 1984.
[information from his widow, Renate Lampe, through
Jacqueline Y. Miller]
Sibatani, Atuhiro, D.Sc., of Kyoto, Japan, on 26 March
2011 at the age of 90. Professor Sibatani, an authority on
Lycaenidae, had been a member of the Society from 1970
until he resigned in 1994. [information from Hideyuki Chiba]
Quimby F. Hess
Volume 53, Number 2
53
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
John Piot, Ranger Steve Mueller and Deb Piot at banquet, Andrew Warren and Karl Gardner at banquet, Great Hall,
Great Hall, Peabody Museum of Natural History. Photo: Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Andy Warren.
Group tour of collections, West Campus, Yale University..
Photo Andrew Warren
Chuck Harp in moth collection at the Peabody Museum of Banquet among the bones.... Photo: Charlie Covell
Natural History, Yale University. Photo: Andrew Warren
2011 Lepidopterists’ Society Annual
Meeting Photos
54
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Kisutam syllis (Lycaenidae: Theclini) in
the United States: An Addendum
Mike A. Rickard1 and John G. Pasko2
411 Virgo Street, Mission, TX 78572 [email protected]
340 Lynn Oaks Court, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 [email protected]
It is almost axiomatic that immediately after one publishes
a note or paper on some scientific subject, some key new
data appears. This was certainly the case with the article
on the occurrence of Kisutam syllis (Godman & Salvin, 1887)
in the United States (Rickard, 2010). No sooner was the
Winter 2010 issue of the News in the mail than a specimen
was reported from California, collected in 2005 by John G.
Pasko but not identified until 2010! It’s an amazing story
of discovery, and John gives this account:
“On April 17, 2005 my wife and I took a drive in the Santa
Monica Mts. and came down Deer Creek Rd. towards the
Pacific Coast Highway. On a hillside looking over the
highway and coast I got out and took a couple of photos. I
saw a small brown butterfly flying fast, went to the car to
get my net and was able to capture it in flight. I saw a second
individual which might have been the same thing but could
not get it. Being convinced it was a Satyrium saepium (W.
H. Edwards, 1869) because of the light brown ventral, I just
put it in an envelope without really looking at it. I then
reported it to Ken Davenport as an early flight record for
that species, and Ken proceeded to list it as S. saepium
chalcis. Recently a friend asked if I had any extra S. saepium
chlorophora (Watson & W. Comstock, 1920) specimens. I
was not at all familiar with this subspecies of coastal
southern California, originally described from San Diego,
but then I remembered the specimen from 2005 and located
it in my storage box. When I looked at this butterfly I could
not believe my eyes!!! It was clearly a tropical
hairstreak, with blue on the DHW. I attempted to identify
it through the Butterflies of America website
(www.butterfliesofamerica.com) but there were too
many similar species. I then sent photos of the mounted
specimen to John Emmel, who suggested they be forwarded
to hairstreak expert Robert Robbins at the Smithsonian.
Robbins confirmed the specimen as a female K. syllis.”
surprising is that this location is so far outside any expected
distribution. Of the four genera of superficially similar
hairstreaks occurring in northern Mexico (Calycopis,
Electrostrymon, Kisutam, and Ziegleria), apparently the
only record of any species from the southwestern United
States is a Calycopis isobeon (Butler & H. Druce, 1872) from
Arizona (Kilian Rover via Ken Davenport, pers. comm.).
The specimen collected by Rickard in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley of Texas is much more explicable, given the regular
presence of Calycopis and Electrostrymon species there plus
that area’s long history of strays from Mexico. Since the
larvae of butterflies in this species group are detritivorous
(feed on decomposing organic matter), Robbins suggested
that perhaps a larva or pupa could have been accidently
introduced to the region in a shipment of mangos or other
fruit. The discovery in 2011 of an abandoned smuggling boat
near this location, and evidence of continued smuggling
operations along the Ventura County coastline, may provide
the best explanation for the arrival of K. syllis in northern
California.
Acknowledgements
Rickard would like to thank Ken Davenport for alerting him
to this record, putting him in touch with John Pasko, and
for additional input. Pasko would like to thank John Emmel
and Robert Robbins for their assistance in determining the
identity of the specimen.
Literature Cited
Rickard, M. A. 2010, Kisutam syllis (Godman & Salvin, 1887)
(Lycaenidae: Theclini) New to Texas and the United States. News of
the Lepidopterists’ Society 52: 141.
The K. syllis was collected in Ventura County along Deer
Creek Road near the intersection with the Pacific Coast
Highway, in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mts. It’s
occurrence there can only be a matter of speculation, as is
the identity of the uncollected second individual. Though
this specimen was collected in hilly terrain, there are
extensive agricultural areas not far northwest of the location
on the Oxnard plain, and in the winter-spring of 2005 the
area received abnormally heavy rainfall. Perhaps most
Volume 53, Number 2
55
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
Membership Update...
Julian Donahue
INCLUDES ALL CHANGES RECEIVED by 9 August 2011.
“Lost” Member (publications returned: “temporarily away,”
“moved,” “left no address,” or “addressee unknown”):
Proshek, Benjamin (University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada)
New and Reinstated Members: members who have joined/
renewed/been found/or rescinded their request to be omitted
since publication of the 2010 Membership Directory (not
included in the 2008 Membership Directory; all in U.S.A.
unless noted otherwise)
Anderson, Eric B.: 5815 SW 114th Place, Micanopy, FL
32667-5127.
Benbow, Peter K.: 3324 State Street, Suite M, Santa
Barbara, CA 93105-2691.
Beus, Rylee: 6538 South River Lane, Spanish Fork, UT
84660-6501.
Beus, Zach: 6538 South River Lane, Spanish Fork, UT
84660-6501.
Beza, Siobhan: 9316 Classic Road, Glen Allen, VA 230602802.
Bonebrake, Timothy (Ph.D.): Atmospheric & Oceanic
Sciences, University of California, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los
Angeles, CA 90095-1565.
Borchelt, Rick: 4602 Drexel Road, College Park, MD 207403604.
Borst, Aiden: 2907 Parkside Drive, Jenison, MI 494289144.
Crusinberry, Jim: 808 17th Street, Plano, TX 75074-5812.
Dinwiddie, April (Ms.): [address omitted by request]
Dipaolo, Dana W. (Mr.): 25 Francis Avenue, Wakefield,
MA 01880-3960.
Easter, Jennie: 123 South Duncan Street, Stillwater, OK
74074-3222.
Easter, Kiley: 123 South Duncan Street, Stillwater, OK
74074-3222.
Ellenbogen, Mark: 8 Van Buren Street, San Francisco,
CA 94131-2942.
Ettman, James K.: 6 Monarch Place, Morrilton, AR 721108802.
Eyles, Matt: 7210 Keystone Road, Richmond, IL 600719719.
Fulks, Judith (Mrs.): [address omitted by request]
Glaeske, Daniel M. (M.D.): Box 1421, Assiniboia,
Saskatchewan S0H 0B0, Canada.
Goldsmith, Karen: 3751 Carmel Avenue, Irvine, CA 926061717.
Grahs, William: 9303 Peach Ridge Avenue NW, Sparta, MI
49345-9769.
56
Hansen, Tor: P.O. Box 775, North Truro, MA 02652-0775.
Holland, Hailey: 1744 South Oregon Avenue, Provo, UT
84606-5501.
Holland, Michael: 1744 South Oregon Avenue, Provo, UT
84606-5501.
Itoh, Tateo (Mr.): 3-1-5-803 Chuou, Matsumoto, Nagano
390-0811, Japan.
Lent, Richard A. (Ph.D.): 279 North Main Street,
Petersham, MA 01366-9503.
Martin, Harrison: 518 G Street NE basement,
Washington, DC 20002-4304.
McCollum, Atticus: 5463 Saratoga Avenue, Apt. 307, Santa
Clara, CA 95058-7316.
McEwen, Jake: 424 Wall Street, P.O. Box 1804, Eagle, CO
81631-1804.
Mikula, Rick: 147 West Carleton Avenue, Hazleton, PA
18201-7321.
Mitchell, Autumn: Bret Harte Elementary School Garden,
2751 9th Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95818-4406.
Monroe, James L. (Ph.D.): 1799 Second Street, Beaver,
PA 15009-2418.
Parry, Ronald (Ph.D.): 2492 Bering Drive, Houston, TX
77057-4938.
Powell, David: 1101 North 7th Street, #1194, Phoenix,
AZ 85006-2730.
Price, Anson: 439 Stokes Avenue, Draper, UT 84020-7813.
Price, Jenna: 439 Stokes Avenue, Draper, UT 84020-7813.
Redd, Alex: 1679 North 850 West, Orem, UT 84057-8632.
Redd, Jaxon: 1679 North 850 West, Orem, UT 84057-8632.
Richardson, Grayson: 9316 Classic Road, Glen Allen, VA
23060-2802.
Scott, Janet: 68 Aberdeen Street SE, Medicine Hat, Alberta
T1A 0P7, Canada.
Seymour, Lorraine (Ms.): 24106 North Bunn Road,
Prosser, WA 99350-8694.
Shelor, Jonathan: 312 Fairmount Terrace, Mountville, PA
17554-1047.
Sides, Baylee: 208 South 3rd Street, Sayre, OK 73662-3006.
Skadsen, Dennis R.: 1017 Outlet Road, Grenville, SD
57239-8350.
Smith, Gary A.: P.O. Box 18, Brownville, ME 04414-0018.
Snow, Chance: P.O. Box 747, Paulden, AZ 86334-0747.
Vornholt, Tory (Ms.): 4402 Blackland Drive, Marietta, GA
30067-4710.
Walker, Mark: 5062 Nighthawk Way, Oceanside, CA 920565454.
Weston, Henry: 48 Echo Road, Mansfield Cengter, CT
06250-1312.
Willburn, Matthew: 7809 Martin Way E, Unit 1, Olympia,
WA 98516-4741.
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
Wilson, W. Herbert, Jr. (Ph.D.): Department of Biology,
Colby College, 5739 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, ME 049015739.
Zacharczenko, Brigette (Ms.): 30-5 Pompey Road,
Ashford, CT 06278-1517.
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
PHOTO CONTEST: Are You the
Next LepSoc T-Shirt Model?
Address Changes (all U.S.A. unless noted otherwise)
Aiello, Annette (Dr.): Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute, American Embassy Panama, 9100 Panama City
PL, Washington, DC 20521-9100.
Andrade-Correa, Miguel Gonzalo (Prof.): Carrera 58,
No. 125B - 78 casa 7, Bogota, D.C., Colombia.
Cock, Matthew J.W. (Ph.D.): Brynamlwg, Llanon,
Ceredigion SY23 5LZ, United Kingdom.
East, Raymond “Randy” James: 1725 Bayview Drive,
Fort Wayne, IN 46815-4206.
Hay-Roe, Mirian Medina (Ph.D.): 3627 NW 75th Terrace,
Gainesville, FL 32606-5648.
Hayden, James E. (Ph.D.): Florida State Collection of
Arthropods, FDACS, Division of Plant Industry, P.O. Box
147100, Gainesville, FL 32614-7100.
Kawahara, Akito: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera &
Biodiversity, University of Florida, P.O. Box 112710,
Gainesville, FL 32611-2710.
Klein, Michael W.: P.O. Box 16809, San Diego, CA 921766809.
Marsden, David (Ph.D.): 6949 East Paseo Dorado,
Tucson, AZ 85715-4924.
Pautsch, Richard: 1200 South Dairy Ashford Street, Apt.
226, Houston, TX 77077-2348.
Ribitzki, Paul: 464 West Woodland Drive, Cleveland, OK
74020-3580.
Shank, Stephanie: 67 South Main Street, Alburgh, VT
05440-4040.
Taylor, Milton D. (Ph.D.): 800 John Carlyle Street, Apt.
410, Alexandria, VA 22314-6843.
Watters, Scarlett: 7240 South Lincoln Way, Centennial,
CO 80122-1146.
Zack, Allen: 7901 CARR 4485, Quebradillas, PR 006789714.
Zaspel, Jennifer M. (Ph.D.): 142 Halsey Science Center,
University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, 800 Algoma Boulevard,
Oshkosh, WI 54901-3551.
Elizabeth Katherine “Kat” Covell modeling
her LepSoc T-shirt in 1989
The photograph of
the cute blond we
use to advertise
the Society’s Tshirts dates back
many years; the
original was blackand-white, and it
is
so
grainy
because it was
“screened”
for
reproduction in
o
u
r
advertisements;
we have been
working with the
screened version
because
the
original print got
misplaced or lost..
We think it’s time
to replace this
tired old photo-
graph with a new digital color version.
But first, a little history about the present photo. The model
is 12-year old Elizabeth Katherine Covell, photographed in
1989 in her Louisville, Kentucky, backyard by her
lepidopterist father, Dr. Charles V. Covell, Jr. Kat Covell, as
she is known professionally, is now quite grown up and
married and living in Oakland, California, working freelance
in the film industry.
We are now soliciting color photos of LepSoc T-shirts in
action, on kids or adults, or both, as 300 dpi or better JPEG
images. Please send the photo(s) as e-mail attachments and
identify the person(s) in the photograph(s) and submit an
informal model release (e-mail authorization is okay) for The
Lepidopterists’ Society to use the photo(s) to promote and
advertise the sale of Society T-shirts. Don’t have a Society
T-shirt? Ordering information will be found on page 3 of the
2010 Membership Directory (in a nutshell: $12 each, blue
or yellow, sizes Small to XX-Large, plus $6 shipping for the
first shirt and $3 for each additional shirt to U.S. or Canada
addresses (inquire for shipping costs to other countries).
Send your T-shirt orders and contest entries to Julian
Donahue, 735 Rome Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90065-4040,
USA; e-mail [email protected] (checks payable to”The
Lepidopterists’ Society). Decision of the judge (Donahue)
will be final; more than one photograph may be selected to
be used in rotation, and if history repeats itself, the photo
may still be in use decades from now!
Volume 53, Number 2
57
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
Pyrausta cardinalis, a new continental
record (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)
James E. Hayden1, Paul Dennehy2, and James Vargo3
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, 1911 SW 34th Street,
Gainesville, Florida 32608, USA; [email protected] 1
13 Kaseville Road, Danville, Pennsylvania 17821, USA; [email protected]
P.O. Box 97, Mishawaka, Indiana 46546, USA; [email protected]
This article reports the Antillean species Pyrausta cardinalis
(Guenée, 1854) (Crambidae) for the Nearctic mainland. This
strikingly distinctive species was collected in Homestead,
Florida (Miami-Dade Co.) by PD and JV in March 2010. A
search of the Florida State Collection of Arthropods and
McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity (Florida
Museum of Natural History, University of Florida,
Gainesville) has not revealed any earlier record.
spot and bluish tinge. Pyrausta episcopalis has a black, fourcornered forewing apical spot with bluish center that may
be more or less merged with the distal black border (HerrichSchäffer 1871, Gundlach 1881). The populations could well
be conspecific; many pyraloid species are commonly
distributed among the Greater Antilles with slightly variable
maculation but no perceptible genitalic differences (JEH,
pers. obs.). For the present, we use the oldest name
The species is easily recognized by the crimson dorsum, fore- associated with a matching description.
and hindwings, the black, fusiform postmedial spot on the The Floridian specimens show almost no differences from
forewing (as a nearly oval area from the radial veins to the P. cardinalis collected in the Dominican Republic (JEH slide
anal fold), and the black hindwing terminal band, which is 1393, FSCA) and Puerto Rico (JEH slide 1156, JEH Coll.)
broadest at the apex. The species cannot be confused with in wing pattern (fig. 1) or genitalia (fig. 3). In all dissected
any other pyraloids. Among Nearctic Pyrausta species, only specimens, the vesica is armed with a nodular distal
P. dapalis (Grote, 1881) and P. coccinea Warren, 1892 have sclerotization, the uncus is broadly angulate, and the process
distinctly red hindwings, but those species have entirely of the sella of the valve is small and not strongly haired.
black or dark gray forewings and are endemic to California The Floridian specimens differ slightly in having pale orange
(Munroe 1976). In P. bicoloralis (Guenée, 1854) (eastern scales on the vertex and white scales extended along the
Nearctic) and P. augustalis (Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875) entire lateral margin of the frons, whereas the insular
(Texas and southward), the basal and medial areas are specimens have a reddish orange vertex and white scales only
orange, the black postmedial area is much wider, and the along the upper frons near the antenna. Cuban material was
distal fringe is white along the medial veins and anal fold. not available for comparison. In all specimens, the
Pyrausta cardinalis belongs to a group of similar Antillean praecinctorium, the common apomorphy of Crambidae, is
species that has yet to be revised. Guenée described the noteworthy for its unusually large size and circular shape
species as the type of Synchromia Guenée, 1854, with the (fig. 2). The function of this appendage remains unknown,
type locality as St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands). Related although it surely operates with the tympanal organs.
species are P. coccinealis (Walker, 1866) (type locality
unknown), P. carnifex (Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875),
described from the Dominican Republic, and P. episcopalis
(Herrich-Schäffer, 1871), described from Cuba (Munroe
1995). The first three were synonymized in Hampson (1899)
based on external characters, but the genitalia have not been
previously illustrated. Pyrausta cardinalis is also common
on Puerto Rico (Möschler 1890, Wolcott 1948). The
Homestead specimens match the original description of P.
cardinalis (Guenée 1854, pl. 7, fig. 6). In P. carnifex, the
terminal area is entirely black from the postmedial line to
the distal margin, the hindwing marginal band is similarly
wider, and the black forewing discal spot is large and round
(Felder & Rogenhofer 1875, pl. 134, fig. 36). Walker
described P. coccinealis as having a large hindwing discal
58
Specimen data are as follows: two males: “Florida: Dade
County 3 miles southeast of Florida City 25.4075 0N
80.4484 0W 9 March 2010 Paul Dennehy leg.” (PD
Collection); one male: “U.S.A. FLORIDA: Dade Co. Card
Sound N 25024.892' W 80026.409' 12-III-2010 J. Vargo” (JEH
slide 1159, MGCL). PD collected the specimens at a sheet
with two 175-watt mercury vapor bulbs, and two nights of
collecting the previous December did not yield other records.
The freshness of PD’s specimens suggests that the species
is established in the area and not merely a migrant. The
hostplants are not known; other species of Pyrausta feed on
flowers of Lamiaceae (Munroe 1976).
Acknowledgments
We thank Andrew Warren, Brian Scholtens, and DPI personnel for
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Fig. 1.—Pyrausta cardinalis Guenée, male habitus (near Homestead,
FL, March 2010, leg. J. Vargo). Scale = 1 cm.
Fig. 3.—Pyrausta cardinalis male genitalia (JEH slide 1159, MGCL).
their critical reviews. JEH thanks the Puerto Rico Department of
Natural Resources for facilitating his fieldwork in the Toro Negro
State Forest in 2007.
Literature Cited
Fig. 2.—Pyrausta cardinalis praecinctorium (PR).
Volume 53, Number 2
Felder, C., R. Felder and A.F. Rogenhofer. 1875. Reise der österreichischen
Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859.
Zoologischer Theil. 2(2): Lepidoptera. Heft 5 (pp. 1–20, pls 121–140).
Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien. Available at
http://caliban.mpipz.mpg.de/felder/novara_tafeln/high/
IMG_3778.html, accessed 10 April 2011.
Guenée, M.A. 1854. Deltoides et Pyralites. Pp. 1–448, in: Boisduval,
J.B.A.D. de and M.A. Guenée. Histoire Naturelle des Insectes. Species
Général des Lépidoptères 8. Paris: Roret.
Gundlach, J. 1881. Contribucion á la Entomologia Cubana. Havana:
G. Montiel. Pp. 1–445, i-xxi.
Hampson, G.F. 1899. A revision of the moths of the subfamily
Pyraustinae and family Pyralidae. Part II. Proceedings of the
Zoological Society of London 1899(1):172–291.
Herrich-Schäffer, G.A.W. 1871. Die Schmetterlinge der Insel Cuba.
Korrespondenz-Blatt des Zoologisch-Mineralogischen Vereines in
Regensburg 25: 15–30.
Möschler, H.B. 1890. Die Lepidopteren-Fauna der Insel Portorico.
Abhandlungen herausgegeben von der Senckenbergischen
Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, Frankfurt a. M. 16(1):69–360, 1 pl.
Munroe, E.G. 1976. Pyraloidea, Pyralidae comprising the subfamily
Pyraustinae tribe Pyraustini (conclusion). Pp. 79–150, pls. 5–9, J–
U, pp. xiii–xvii, in: Dominick, R. B. et al., The Moths of America
north of Mexico. 13.2B. London: E.W. Classey Ltd. and The Wedge
Entomological Research Foundation.
Munroe, E.G. 1995. Pyraustinae. Pp. 53–79 in: Heppner, J.B. (ed.).
Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist: Part 2. Hyblaeoidea Pyraloidea - Tortricoidea 3. Association for Tropical Lepidoptera &
Scientific Publishers, Gainesville.
Wolcott, G.N. 1948. Pyralidae, in The Insects of Puerto Rico. The Journal
of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 32(3):647–704.
59
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
The Marketplace
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS: If the number following your advertisement is “523” then you must
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Books/Videos
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appeared. Renew it Now!
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Send all advertisements to the
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specimens too. $98 plus shipping $7.50
in the US or $16 international. You can
order it with a credit card or by paypal
at www.neotropicalbutterflies.com, or
contact
Kim
Garwood
at
[email protected], or mail a US
check to Kim Garwood, 721 N Bentsen
Palm Dr #40, Mission TX 78572. We
also have Butterflies of Northeastern
Mexico, for the states of Tamaulipas,
Nuevo Leon and San Luis Potosi,
Mexico. This includes over 600 species,
one third of the Mexican species. The
cost is $30 plus shipping.
524
Livestock
For Sale: Captive bred Philippine
butterfly pupae, year round. Imogene
Rillo, P. O. Box 2226 Manila 1099
Philippines
email:
[email protected]
524
Equipment
For Sale: 20 Schmitt boxes, Bioquip
Number 1006. Excellent shape. For
details
please
email:
[email protected]
Disputes arising from such notices must be
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structure of The Lepidopterists’ Society. Aggrieved members may request information
from the Secretary regarding steps which they
may take in the event of alleged unsatisfactory business transactions. A member may be
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indication of dishonest activity.
Buyers, sellers, and traders are advised to contact your state department of agriculture and/
or PPQAPHIS, Hyattsville, Maryland, regarding
US Department of Agriculture or other permits required for transport of live insects or
plants. Buyers are responsible for being aware
that many countries have laws restricting the
possession, collection, import, and export of
some insect and plant species. Plant Traders:
Check with USDA and local agencies for permits to transport plants. Shipping of agricultural weeds across borders is often restricted.
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
The Mailbag:
Dear Editor:
generated by monitoring volunteers. After basic training,
prospective monitoring personnel should be tested
rigorously on sight ID of their own regional faunas by
exposing them to rapidly-flashed photos or even videos (no
more than 5 seconds) of upper- and undersides of randomized
species, and requiring each to be identified from the total
regional species list (not by multiple-choice from a list of
presumed similar-looking taxa, which provides too many
“clues” that might unduly focus the subject’s attention).
There should be quantitative standards of accuracy which
must be met before that person’s data will be accepted. The
allowable amount of error should be pro-rated based on the
difficulty of the group (i.e. more error may be acceptable in
Duskywings than in Swallowtails!) but perhaps also on the
taxa of greatest conservation concern in that fauna. This
procedure is merely a slight variant of those already in use
in various experimental protocols in perceptual psychology,
in flight and driving simulators and other on-line training
exercises, and is similar to the development of on-line
gaming skills with practice.
Butterfly-monitoring programs are popping up everywhere,
as more and more people and organizations realize the
potential of “citizen science” to help us track and understand
biotic responses to global change. This is well and good, but
there is a serious problem associated with all such efforts:
data quality control. I have no desire to present a formal
overview of the growing literature of this issue. Rather, I’d
like to offer a few remarks and one simple suggestion—all
grounded in experience. As many readers of the NEWS know,
I’ve been doing butterfly monitoring since the Devil was a
little boy—well, almost: it’s 40 years now. My Web site, http:/
/butterfly.ucdavis.edu, presents the longest and densest
continuous butterfly-monitoring data set of its kind in the
world, and the project is ongoing. Since 1971 I have trained
– or tried to train – several dozen students, both undergrads
and graduate students, in sight identification of butterflies.
I have learned that some people, although previously
completely inexperienced, are “naturals” at this, while other
people can never learn to do it reliably at all. If this is true
of the university population, it is probably true of the After years of dealing with people who e-mail me photos of
Plebejus acmon to document their discovery of some
population at large.
Experienced field Lepidopterists, like experienced birders, Federally-endangered Euphilotes in a vacant lot in
know the groups that cause the greatest problems. They are Sacramento, I think it’s high time to mobilize the potential
mostly the “mousy,” unshowy little guys. For North of the Internet to maximize “accuracy in monitoring.”
American birders it’s Empidonax flycatchers and migrating
warblers. For butterfly folks it’s blues, hairstreaks, and
skippers. How many years does it take to learn to
differentiate reliably among the Eastern “three witches,”
Euphyes vestris, Polites verna and Wallengrenia egeremet?
How many collectors can discriminate in the field among
the Eastern Satyrium, or between Erynnis persius and E.
lucilius in the East, or E. pacuvius in the West? Or among
species of Euphilotes? Or among the Western Speyeria,
except for leto and nokomis? But it’s exactly these groups
that have the most importance for monitoring purposes,
because so many of those confusing species are narrow
ecological specialists and thus presumably most vulnerable
to environmental change. We cannot afford significant errors
in species IDs, and we should not have to resort to statistical
methods to try to identify and quarantine the errors after
the fact. (One does this, basically, by searching for “outlier”
data, be they geographic or phenological, and disregarding
them. In the process one is likely to discard some very
important true information.)
ARTHUR M. SHAPIRO
Center for Population Biology, University of California,
Davis, CA 95616
[email protected]
Season Summary Correction
Dear Editor,
This is a correction to the 2010 Season Summary for Texas.
On page 98, line 20 under Noctuidae the species was
reported inccorectly as Herminocala stigmophiles, which
would not be a US record.
The correct species name is Rhosologia porrecta Walker.
Based on a photo from the USNM, sent to us by Dr.
Lafontaine. Victoria Co., TX, Victoria collected by J.D.
Mitchell, between 1891-1920. This is a new US record.
A second correction is for the entry given as Texola elada
perse. This should be Texola perse, which is a good species
according to the latest version of Pelham’s Butterfly
Rapid progress is being made in on-line field guides, such Checklist.
as the work of Rob Stevenson at the University of Sincerely,
Massachusetts (http://efg.cs.umb.edu). These resources Ed Knudson, Texas Lepidoptera Survey, 8517 Burkhart Rd.,
offer us the opportunity to exert quality control on data Houston, TX 77055
Volume 53, Number 2
61
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
Restaurant at The Lodge at Pico Bonito. Flowering and
fruiting plants in landscape attract small wildlife, especially Caligo uranus, a spectacular owl-butterfly, was collected at
birds, rodents, and insects for easy viewing.
a fermenting dish of fruit.
Larvae of Morpho helenor montezuma. Late instar, upper
left; early instar, lower right.
Observation tower in forest. A great place to set up a blacklight to attract nocturnal insects. All photos by Gary Noel
A harlequin beetle (Acrocinus longimanus), one of several
Ross.
large beetles attracted to night lights.
62
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
The Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras:
An Up and Coming Destination for
Modern Eco-Travelers of All Ages
Gary Noel Ross
6095 Stratford Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70808 [email protected]
Between June 25 and July 3, 2011, I participated in “A
Lepidopterist’s Expedition to Pico Bonito National Park,
Honduras, Central America” organized by the popular ecotour company EXPEDITION TRAVEL (Gainesville, FL).
Led by Thomas C. Emmel, our group totaled ten. But while
small, we included entomologists and other biologists (Fl,
LA, NY, PA), college students (FL), an orthodontist (ON,
CANADA), and even a family with an early teenage son (CA).
In addition, half-way into the stay we were joined by a local
biology graduate student from the National Autonomous
University of Honduras (UNAH) headquartered in
Tegucigalpa. Collecting permits for lepidoptera and
coleoptera had been secured for those persons who had
initially expressed an interest in collecting.
The Lodge at Pico Bonito (“beautiful peak”) opened its doors
in June 2000. The facility is a privately owned ecologically
friendly resort that has rapidly gained distinction as one of
the “Top 10 Eco-Jungle Lodges of the World” (National
Geographic Adventure). Other accolades include a listing
in Small Luxury Hotels of the World—2010, and feature
stories in Audubon, Natural History, Outside Magazine, and
Wildlife Conservation. The resort reflects the name of Pico
Bonito (7,989 feet), the nation’s second-highest peak within
the Cordillera Nombre de Dios, a picturesque mountain
range that rises from the narrow Caribbean coastal plain
of northern Honduras. The resort neighbors Pico Bonito
National Park—a 265,000 acre reserve that harbors one of
the last remaining unlogged lowland and montane
rainforests in all of Central America. These forests are home
to a blitz of star-luster mammals such as jaguar, puma,
ocelot, margay, tapir, white-tail and red brocket deers,
tamandua, howler, spider, and capuchin white-faced
monkeys, sloth, and coati mundi. And of the 700 plus species
of birds recorded in the country, no fewer than 400 have been
logged at Pico Bonito.
Company and Standard Fruit Company (remember those
“Chiquita” bananas and the term “Banana Republic”?).
The Lodge consists of a reception center (including a gift
shop featuring local crafts), a separate restaurant serving
gourmet meals with a local twist, and a separate conference
center; all are connected by elevated boardwalks. Nearby,
twenty-two double-bed cabins and a nine-person student
dormitory house guests. All buildings are constructed of
dark-stained native pine and hardwoods salvaged after
devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. A
swimming pool with full bar service is a focal point within
the elaborately landscaped grounds that are dominated by
pan-tropical species. A small Butterfly Farm (netted flight
house and larva house), Serpentarium, and netted, walk-in
Iguana Farm are easily accessible by foot from the reception
center; these encourage visitors to experience and learn
about some of the region’s note-worthy wildlife. In addition,
hummingbird feeders are hung on verandas and trees to
encourage these flamboyant species. A resident American
naturalist/manager, James Adams, (not THE James Adams
of this society) and several bilingual personnel are usually
on duty each day. The Lodge logs in about 5,000 visitors
each year, mostly during the country’s cooler/dryer season
(December-April).
Our trip began at the Miami International Airport with a
two-hour flight aboard AMERICAN AIRLINES to San Pedro
Sula, Honduras’ second largest city, located slightly inland
from the Caribbean coastline. From there we were
chauffeured via two new Lodge vans to our more eastern
destination. En route through the lowlands we passed
commercial plantations of banana, coconut, cacao,
pineapple, citrus, and African oil palm. After about two-anda half hours, we turned onto a gravel road that quickly
gained elevation. Within less than ten minutes we arrived
at a guard-post and gate designating “THE LODGE AT
Because the park is still undeveloped, The Lodge at Pico PICO BONITO.”
Bonito serves as the park’s de facto entranceway. The resort My initial impression is that I had been teleported into a
is located at an elevation of 360 feet and is nestled between new Eden. Kaleidoscopic flowers and foliage, squawking
two clear mountain rivers on land reclaimed from a previous parrots, raucous grackles, and zooming hummingbirds were
cacao (chocolate) plantation. The venue is just 20 minutes backdropped by verdant mountains with peaks shrouded by
from the commercial port of La Ceiba (Department of heavily laden clouds. All overwhelmed my senses. The darkAtlántida), the nation’s third largest city and previous major stained buildings seemed in balance with the natural
shipping port of the historically important United Fruit
Volume 53, Number 2
63
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
Morpho p. polyphemus, a species with a 6-7 inch wingspread,
was collected along the Rio Corinto just below the Lodge.
The pregnant female was released into the Flight House in
hopes that she would oviposit.
Kris Lackovic, an orthodontist from Ontario, shows off a
prize: a male Morpho cypris aphrodite collected along the
Rio Corinto below the Lodge.
A mercury vapor light is maintained on the grounds to
attract nocturnal insects. Noah Johnson, a young teenager
from California, inspects the sheet.
Michael (left) and Dyan Johnson (middle) along with James
Adams (right), manager/resident naturalist at the Lodge,
gaze upward to a tree-hole toucan nest just yards from the
reception center.
64
An arboreal trap net set along a forested trail on the
grounds of the Lodge. Fermenting fruit was used as bait to
attract non-nectaring lepidopterans. Kris Lackovic (left),
Gerald McWilliams (middle), and Jose Daniel Rivera Duarte
(right, and a local graduate student), inspect trap.
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Because of my age (71), I paced myself. For example, I usually
awoke at 4:45 each morning to a crescendo of vocalizations
from birds and monkeys as they responded to the first wash
of light on the eastern horizon. If no off-site field trip had
been scheduled for the day, I would lounge in the hammock
on my veranda to soak up the ambience of the moment. At
about 6:30, I would walk to the dinning area to shared
breakfast with other group participants. The rest of my day
was spent walking the on-site trails looking for photo
opportunities. Expectedly, I spent a lot of time in the butterfly
flight house. Even though the numbers of species were low
at the time (about a dozen), there was sufficient flight activity
for me to experiment with my new camera. Finally, at about
Our daily itinerary was simple: Do what you like! The first 6:00 PM I returned to my cabin for a badly needed shower
task of those participants intent upon collecting moths and before reuniting with the group for dinner at 7 o’clock.
beetles was to scout places to set up black lights/sheets for For the sturdier adventurer, a spur from a long “Loop Trail”
night collecting and aerial trap nets baited with fermenting takes one to Las Pilas (“the basins”), a series of deep
fruits. With so many paths and an observation tower near crystalline pools formed by boulders in the Rio Coloradito.
at hand, those tasks were easily accomplished. (The Lodge To reach the pools—a great place for a quick cool-down—
maintains a mercury vapor lamp/sheet set up just a few yards one has to hike down 162 wooden steps organized into
from the pool so that visitors can easily observe nocturnal switchbacks that descend precipitously through lush gallery
forest.
insects.)
surroundings, unobtrusive. Even the cabins were secluded
within patches of forest that were rapidly reclaiming the old
cacao groves. Here an assortment of hardwoods towered to
80-90 feet, their trunks festooned with orchids, bromeliads,
ferns, philodendrons, aroids, and lianas. The natural
understory was enriched by tropical species such as
dracaenas, dieffenbachias, gingers, heliconias, hibiscus.
Cabins were connected by gravel paths bordered by lowintensity night lights. Although our cabins lacked airconditioning (fourteen other guest cabins were so equipped),
they were furnished with ceiling fans. Temperatures ranged
between 70 and 88 degrees F. and air moisture was
consistently high.
1
2
Visitors have the unique opportunity to experience a tropical
forest ecosystem on their own terms. For example,
comfortable lounge chairs and hammocks on verandas make
it easy to rest and enjoy the extensive lawn, flower gardens,
and forest fragments designed to attract birds and small
mammals. In fact, each morning personnel refresh bird
feeders and rake fallen palm fruits into piles to satisfy
common resident long-tailed hermit hummingbirds,
kiskadees, grackles, agoutis, forest mice, and basilisk
lizards.
By contrast, for those individuals up to moderate hiking,
the resort offers walking sticks, umbrellas, and binoculars
to stroll the well-marked trails (augmented with cleverly
camouflaged trash cans), to major points of interest on the
grounds and in the national park per se. These include a
30-foot tall observation tower, a Butterfly Farm,
Serpentarium, and Iguana Farm. At the Butterfly Farm, the
flight house tries to exhibit a healthy sample of common
forest butterflies, especially longwings (Heliconius
charithonia vazquezae, H. erato petiverana, H. hecale
zuleika, H. hecelesia octavia, H. ismenius telchinia), and
Dryas iulia moderata); morphos (Morpho helenor
montezuma); owl-butterflies (Caligo telamonius memnon and
C. uranus); swallowtails (Heraclides thoas autocles, Parides
erithalion polyzelus, P. eurimedes mylotes, and P. sesostris
zestos). The larva house usually features immature stages
of owl-eyes and morphos. The Serpentarium is an indoor
facility housing screened aquaria containing several local
snakes (including venomous species such as fer-de-lance,
eyelash viper, and jumping viper). The Iguana Farm, a large
walk-in cage, is home to a healthy population of about 30
iguanas.
4
Volume 53, Number 2
Die-hard explorers can complete the Loop Trail and the
Corinto Trail—with or without an English-speaking guide.
The Loop Trail accesses “Unbelievable Falls”—a two-tiered,
100-foot waterfall of cool, clear water that plummets into a
natural swimming hole—as well as an observation platform
that offers a view of the Rio Coloradito. In addition, the trail
skirts a number of enormously buttressed trees (mahogany,
ceiba/kapok, and cedar, for example). Trekking the Loop
Trail affords the best opportunity to view rare birds and
secretive mammals. [The topography of Pico Bonito is
mercilessly steep with no permanent trail to the summit.
The Lodge, however, does maintain minor trails to the cloud
forest at just over 5,000 feet, but these are not for the
fainthearted.] The Corinto Trail takes off near the
maintenance building and descends a forested escarpment
to the Corinto Rio, a smaller water course than the Rio
Coloradito. During the rainy season, pools provide the
opportunity to cool.
4
During our stay we undertook three off-site field trips. First,
“Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge.” This is a small (8 square
miles) and new (1986) national reserve located along the
Caribbean coast. Our half-day excursion began with a 20minute van ride followed by another 20 minutes on a
motorized, open, two-car tourist train that runs on a narrow
gauge track—an anachronistic reminder of bygone days
when banana and coconut plantations flourished. We then
boarded a small homespun boat that ferried us through
brackish water estuaries and channels that traversed
tropical wet and mangrove forests. The refuge boasts over
300 species of birds, howler and white-faced capuchin
monkeys, sloth, jaguar, ocelot, giant anteater, long-nosed
bat, caiman, crocodile, iguana, turtles, and abundant fish
6
65
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
life. But the most famous resident (and the impetus for the
establishment of the reserve) is the endangered West Indian
manatee, represented here by a resident population of 50
individuals. Although the waterway contained a large
grazing area for manatees (the mammals feed on aquatic
grasses here), we failed to discover these large mammals.
We did, however, observe several water/wading birds, a
crocodile, a coati mundi, several howler monkeys, and
several long-nosed bats. But the highlight was the
spectacular Morpho cypris aphrodite, a large butterfly
sporting iridescent blue wings accented by white stripes.
(Two males sailed about 30 feet above our boat, prompting
in synch expressions of “OMG!”) Before boarding the quaint
train for return, we hiked a short distance to view the
undeveloped Caribbean coastline. There I was reminded of
my home state when a flock of brown pelicans flew overhead.
amphiktion), and a relative of the leaf-wings, Agrias amydon
lacandona. Night lights brought in several species of sphinx
and silk moths, and beetles: harlequin (Acrocinus
longimanus) and both Hercules (Dynastes hercules) and
elephant (rhinoceros) (Megasoma elephas). Mammals and
birds were a bit scarce, too. My biggest disappointment is
that I did not encounter the lovely cotinga, a vivid blue bird
that has become the poster species for Pico Bonito. While
this spectacular bird is present all year, it is most common
between December and April.
13
On another note, a trip such as that organized by
EXPEDITION TRAVEL provides an exceptional opportunity
for people who have diverse backgrounds but common
interests to interact professionally and socially. The June
tour to Pico Bonito was no exception. As mentioned earlier,
our small group included a family of three: husband, wife,
and their thirteen-year-old son. Named Noah, the youth was
physically and mentally precocious, and gifted with an
uncanny and unbridled sense of wittiness as well as a passion
for small wildlife. This was the family’s first trip to the
tropics. The Expedition Travel tour was the fulfillment of a
promise the parents had made to their then four-year-old
son: “If your interest in animals continues until you are
thirteen, we will take you to some rainforest.”
12
Another half-day excursion was to “Campamento CURLA”
(Centro Universitario Regional del Litoral Atlántico), a
private and scenic rainforest preserve adjoining Pico Bonito
National Park. The low-profile facility is managed by one
of Honduras’ national universities as a study and research
area. Because of the different geology, the forest at CURLA
contains several microclimates different from those at the
Lodge at Pico Bonito. As a result, the site hosts a number
of plant and insect species not found near the Lodge.
Now, nearly a decade later, Noah was able to experience firstAnd then there was an afternoon trip to “The Butterfly and hand a sampling of wildlife in the American tropics. But the
Insect Museum” in La Ceiba. This non-profit facility is the California teenager was graced with another unusual
life work of Robert Lehman, an American who has resided opportunity as well: To interact professionally and socially
in Honduras and collecting butterflies and other insects on a daily basis with seasoned naturalists and educators
throughout Central America for over 30 years. The museum who have dedicated their lives to championing biodiversity
currently boasts over 17,000 insects from 139 countries; this and conservation. I am convinced that such exchanges
includes over 7,000 butterfly and moth species from between professionals and formative youth should never be
Honduras. For those persons interested in purchasing taken lightly. Whether or not Noah will have been inspired
papered specimens that had been legally collected, Mr. sufficiently to become a professional entomologist—or even
a naturalist of any sort—is uncertain, of course. Whatever,
Lehman had limited stock to sell.
I am certain that the collective dialogue and repartee at Pico
[NOTE: The Lodge offers other field trips as well. These
Bonito did influence the youth’s future. At the very least,
include white-water rafting, horseback riding, snorkeling,
Noah is destined to become a wise citizen with an assertive,
and a trip to the dry-forest in Rio Aguan Valley where one
exuberant respect for Planet Earth. Meanwhile, I personally
can view the Honduran Emerald Hummingbird, the nation’s
had great fun and stockpiled enough anecdotes to enliven
only endemic bird species.]
many a future conversation.
In summary, the experiences at The Lodge at Pico Bonito
In closing, The Lodge at Pico Bonito is more than just a
were exciting. Although insect abundance and diversity were
luxury resort for international eco-tourists. Pico Bonito is
a bit disappointing, one had to keep in mind that Pico Bonito
decidedly family friendly. For example, with security 24/7,
is a dynamic ecosystem, not a zoo. A second factor was that
English speaking personnel, sumptuous/sanitary meals,
the rainy season, which normally begins in early June, had
relatively safe bath water, swimming pool, meticulously
just begun to ratchet up, and so many insects were just
maintained hiking trails patrolled by guides carrying twobeginning their seasonal activity. Nonetheless, in spite of
way radios, library, gift shop, a wireless internet connection,
this biological “slowness,” a number of flashy species were
wildlife-friendly grounds—and I can’t fail to mention, few
collected (most along the Rio Corinto). Examples include the
pesky insects (no precautions needed for malaria or yellow
swallowtail Mimoides phaon, three species of morphos (M.
fever)—the resort offers parents the unusual opportunity
helenor montezuma, M. p. polyphemus, M. cypris
to enjoy the tropics with their children. That said, I predict
aphrodite), two species of owl-butterflies (C. telamonius
that this Honduran showplace is positioned to become a
memnon, C. uranus), two species of preponas
prime destination for international eco-travelers and
(Archaeoprepona demophon centralis, A. amphimachus
researchers of all ages.
13
4
9
14
66
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
EXPEDITION TRAVEL (Gainesville, FL) for arranging the
trip; James Adams (The Lodge at Pico Bonito), Dyan HaspelThe Lodge at Pico Bonito: www.picobonito.com
Johnson (Santa Monica, CA), Kris Lackovic (Mississaugua,
Butterfly and Insect Museum:
ON, Canada), and Robert Lehman (La Ceiba, Honduras) for
www.hondurasbutterfly.com
assistance with data and/or proof-reading; all participants
on the trip for their patience with my photographic requests;
Expedition Travel: www.expeditiontravelonline.com
and lastly, Noah Johnson (Santa Monica, CA), who I
Acknowledgements
endearingly christened my “bosom buddy,” for his infectious
I would especially like to thank the following people: David enthusiasm and for inspiring me to act outside my zone of
Anderson (Forest Grove, OR) for acquainting me in 2009 comfort.
with Pico Bonito; Tom Emmel and Court Whelan of
Contacts:
Call for Season Summary Records
Leroy C. Koehn
Season Summary Editor
3000 Fairway Court, Georgetown, KY 40324-9454
[email protected]
It is once again the time of year to start preparing your
submissions for the annual Season Summary report. The
annual report is sent as a hardcopy to members each year,
and each year’s data is also incorporated into the on-line
database. Take the time to access the Season Summary
database through The Lepidopterists’ Society home page
(http://alpha.furman.edu/~snyder/snyder/lep/) and do a few
searches. The value of the on-line database increases as your
data gets added each year. Please take the time to consider
your field season and report range extensions, seasonal flight
shifts, and life history observations to the appropriate Zone
Coordinator. Zone Coordinators, their contact information,
and the scope of their zone appears on the inside back cover
of every issue of the “News”.
database is maintained in PC format. As a result, if you
submit your season summary records on an Excel
spreadsheet generated on a MAC to a Zone Coordinator who
operates a PC system, without first disabling the default date
setting, the dates will be off by 4 years and 1 day. If you
submit your season summary records on an EXCEL
spreadsheet generated on a MAC to a Zone Coordinator who
operates a MAC system, without first disabling the default
date setting, the dates will appear proper to the Zone
Coordinator but the dates will be off by 4 years and 1 day
when they are incorporated into the master data base. In
some cases, MAC system dates sent to a Zone Coordinator
operating a MAC system are off 8 years and 2 days (we
haven’t figured that one out). The following are instructions
There are a number of factors that make it necessary for so that this problem will never rear its ugly head again.
the Zone Coordinators to meet a reporting deadline each year. Instructions
As a result, you should have your data to the Zone
When a MAC user sits down to enter the very first record of
Coordinator(s) no later than December 31, 2011. In most of
the season, he/she must create a new Excel file. Before typing
our Nearctic zones, you have long since put away your
in any data, go to “Tools”, then “Options” or “Preferences”
cameras, nets, bait traps, and/or lighting equipment by that
depending upon your version of Excel, “Calculations”, and
time anyway.
uncheck the 1904 box. Once the data is entered, save this
All records are important. Reporting the same species from file, and close. If supplemental data is entered directly into
the same location provided a history for future researchers this file by keypunching it in, there will not be any problems.
to use. Report migratory species, especially the direction of However, do NOT paste in MAC data from another file into
flight and an estimated number of individuals. Again, all of your file without first ensuring that the 1904 box was
these records may be used in the future. We exceeded 6000 unchecked in their file PRIOR to entering any of data.
records in 2010. 10,000 records in 2011 is possible if you Unfortunately, once data has been entered in a file, it does
send in a report to your Zone Coordinator.
NOT do any good to retroactively uncheck the date box!!!
Important reminder to contributors using MAC
computers to submit Season Summary records
By following these few steps, it is a simple matter to
accommodate MAC records. However, you, as the original
7
contributor, must ensure that those steps are taken.
PC operating systems save dates based upon a 1900 format,
Improperly dated records will be rejected and your important
whereas MAC operating systems save dates based upon a
records will not get into the database.
1904 default format. The Lepidopterists’ Society master
Callophrys augustinus in Florida
Volume 53, Number 2
67
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
Brian Scholtens looking through the John Calhoun and John Shuey.
collections at Yale.
Ernest Williams takes a closer look.
Mike Toliver and Boyce Drummond.
Mathew Lehnert and KrushnameghKunte Nicole Palffy-Muhoray,
Mignel, Trevor Williams.
Madeline
Hugh McGuinness and David Wagner. Mathew Lehnert and Deb Meadows.
Emily Peyton, Richard Cech, and Larry
Gall.
Jeff Oliver and Wayne Wehling.
Pat and Eric Metzler.
Michael Collins and Sharon Stichter.
Lepidopterists Society 2011 Annual
Meeting Photos
All photos by Ranger Steve Mueller
68
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Trevor Williams and Ernest Williams Caroline Polger and Richard Primack. Nancy Barrer and Ellen Mahoney
prepare for a presentation.
(Remington).
Carlos Cordero, Giovanny Fague and Madelene Mignela at registration.
Joe-Cheon Sohn.
Boyce Drummond, Mike Toliver and
Michael Sabourin share lunch.
Wayne Wehling and Andy Warren.
Larry Gall and Suryakala Illendula.
Dave and Megan McCarty.
Steve Fratello and Mamoru Watanabe. John Lane and Harry Zirlin.
Sally Warren and Deane Bowers.
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
June 23-26, 2011
Volume 53, Number 2
69
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
Membership
Our Mailing List?
The Lepidopterists’ Society is open to
membership from anyone interested in
any aspect of lepidopterology. The only
criterion for membership is that you appreciate butterflies or moths! To become
a member, please send full dues for the
current year, together with your current mailing address and a note about
your particular areas of interest in Lepidoptera, to:
Contact Julian Donahue for information on mailing list rental.
Kelly Richers,
Assistant Treasurer,
The Lepidopterists’ Society
9417 Carvalho Court
Bakersfield, CA 93311
Dues Rate
Active (regular)
$ 45.00
Affiliate (same address)
10.00
Student
20.00
Sustaining
60.00
Contributor
100.00
Institutional Subscription 60.00
Air Mail Postage for News 15.00
Missed or Defective
Issue?
Requests for missed or defective issues
should be directed to: Ron Leuschner
(1900 John Street, Manhattan Beach,
CA 90266-2608, (310) 545-9415, ron
[email protected]). Please be certain
that you’ve really missed an issue by
waiting for a subsequent issue to arrive.
Memoirs
Requests for Memoirs of the Society
should be sent to Publications Manager, Ken Bliss (address opposite).
Submissions of potential
Memoirs should be sent to:
new
Lawrence E. Gall
Computer Systems Office, Peabody
Museum of Natural History, P. O. Box
208118, Yale University, New Haven,
Students must send proof of enrollment. CT 06520-8118
Please add $ 5.00 to your Student or [email protected]
Active dues if you live outside of the
U.S. to cover additional mailing costs.
Remittances must be in U.S. dollars,
payable to “The Lepidopterists’ Society”. All members receive the Journal Send inquiries to:
and the News (each published quar- Brian G. Scholtens
terly). Supplements included in the (see address opposite)
News are the Membership Directory, [email protected]
published in even-numbered years, and
the Season Summary, published annually. Additional information on member- Send book reviews or new book releases
ship and other aspects of the Society for the Journal to:
can be obtained from the Secretary (see
P. J. DeVries,
address inside back cover).
Dept. Biological Sciences, University of
New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148,
[email protected]
Please send permanent changes of address, telephone numbers, areas of in- Send book reviews or new book releases
for the News to the News Editor.
terest, or e-mail addresses to:
Journal of the
Lepidopterists’ Society
Book Reviews
Submission Guidelines
for the News
Submissions are always welcome!
Preference is given to articles written
for a non-technical but knowledgable
audience, illustrated and succinct
(under 1,000 words). Please submit
in one of the following formats (in
order of preference):
1. Electronically transmitted file and
graphics—in some acceptable format
—via e-mail.
2. Article (and graphics) on diskette,
CD or Zip disk in any of the popular
formats/platforms. Indicate what
format(s) your disk/article/graphics
are in, and call or email if in doubt.
Include printed hardcopies of both
articles and graphics, a copy of the
article file in ASCII or RTF (just in
case), and alternate graphics formats.
Media will be returned on request.
3. Color and B+W graphics should be
good quality photos or slides suitable
for scanning or—preferably—electronic files in TIFF or JPEG format
at least 1200 x 1500 pixels for interior
use, 1800 x 2100 for covers. Photos
or slides will be returned.
4. Typed copy, double-spaced suitable
for scanning aand optical character
recognition. Original artwork/maps
should be line drawings in pen and
ink or good, clean photocopies. Color
originals are preferred.
Submission Deadlines
Material for Volume 53 must reach
the Editor by the following dates:
Issue
Date
Due
3 Autumn
4 Winter
Immediately
Nov. 15, 2011
Change of Address?
Julian P. Donahue, Assistant Secretary,
The Lepidopterists’ Society,
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA 90007-4057.
[email protected]
70
WebMaster
John A. Snyder
Dept. of Biology, Furman University,
Greenville, SC 29613-0001, (864) 2943248, [email protected]
Reports for Supplement S1, the Season Summary, must reach the respective Zone Coordinator (see most recent Season Summary for your Zone)
by Dec. 15. See inside back cover for
Zone Coordinator information.
Summer 2011
Summer 2011
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Executive Council
President
Treasurer
Andrew Warren
McGuire Center for
Lepidoptera & Biodiversity
Florida Museum of Natural
History
P.O. Box 112710
Gainesville, FL 32611-2710
[email protected]
Kelly M. Richers
9417 Carvalho Court,
Bakersfield CA 93311,
(661) 665-1993 (home)
Past President
John Shuey
1505 N. Delaware St., Suite 200
Indianapolis, IN 46202-2418
[email protected]
(317) 951-8818
Vice Presidents
Giovanny Fagua
Carrera 28 No. 46-31, Apt. 603
Bogota 1111111, Colombia
Paul Opler
P. O. Box 2227
Loveland, Colorado 805392227
[email protected]
Mamoru Watanabe
Laboratory of Conservation
Ecology, Institute of Biological
Sciences, University of
Tsukuba
Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572
Japan
watanabe@
kankyo.envr.tsukuba.ac.jp
Secretary
Michael Toliver
Division of Math and Science
Eureka College, 300 E. College
Avenue, Eureka, Illinois
61530-1500
[email protected]
Assistant Treasurer
Ron Leuschner
1900 John Street,
Manhattan Beach, CA
90266-2608, (310) 545-9415
ron [email protected]
Publications Manager
Kenneth R. Bliss
28 DuPont Avenue
Piscataway, NJ 08854-435
(732)968-1079
[email protected]
Editor, News of the
Lepidopterists’ Society
James Adams
346 Sunset Drive, SE
Calhoun, Georgia 30701
[email protected]
Editor, Journal of the
Lepidopterists’ Society
Brian G. Scholtens
Biology Department
College of Charleston
66 College Street
Charleston, SC 29424-0001
(803)856-0186
[email protected]
Editor, Memoirs of the
Lepidopterists’ Society
Lawrence F. Gall
(see Memoirs opposite)
[email protected]
WebMaster
Assistant Secretary
John A. Snyder
Julian P. Donahue
Natural History Museum, 900
Exposition Boulevard, Los
Angeles, CA 90007-4057,
(213) 763-3363 (office), (213)
746-2999 (fax)
[email protected]
Volume 53, Number 2
(see WebMaster opposite)
Members-At-Large
Stephanie Shank, Charles Harp,
Todd Stout, Richard Brown,
Charles V. Covell, Jr., Dan
Rubinoff, Todd Gilligan, Peter
Jump, Bruce Walsh.
Season Summary Zone Coordinators
Refer to Season Summary for Zone coverage details.
Chief Season Summary
Coordinator And Editor
Zone 6, Texas:
Leroy C. Koehn
3000 Fairway Court
Georgetown, KY 40324
(502) 370-4259
Charles Bordelon
Texas Lepidoptera Survey,
8517 Burkhart Road,
Houston, TX 77055
[email protected]
[email protected]
Zone 1, The Far North:
Zone 7, Ontario And
Quebec:
Kenelm W. Philip
Institute of Arctic Biology
University of Alaska
P.O. Box 75700
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7000
(907) 479-2689
[email protected]
Zone 2, The Pacific
Northwest:
Jon H. Shepard
R.R. #2, S.22, C.44
Nelson, British Columbia
V1L 5P5 Canada
(250) 352-3028
[email protected]
Jeff Crolla
413 Jones Ave.,
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M4J 3G5
(416) 778-4162
[email protected]
Zone 8, The Midwest:
Leslie A. Ferge
7119 Hubbard Avenue
Middleton, Wisconsin 53562-3231
(608) 836-9438
[email protected]
Zone 9, The Southeast:
Ken Davenport
8417 Rosewood Avenue
Bakersfield, CA 93306
(661) 366-3074 (home)
Brian G. Scholtens
Biology Department
College of Charleston
Charleston SC 29424-0001
(803) 856-0186
[email protected]
[email protected]
Zone 10, The Northeast:
Zone 4, The Rocky
Mountains:
Mark J. Mello
c/o Lloyd Center,
430 Potomska Rd
Dartsmouth, MA 02748
[email protected]
Zone 3, The Southwest:
Chuck Harp
8834 W. Quarto Ave.
Littleton, CO 80128-4269
(720) 981-5946
[email protected]
Zone 5, The Plains:
Ronald Alan Royer
Division of Science,
Minot State University.
Minot, North Dakota 58707-0001,
Office: (701)858-3209,
FAX: (701)839-6933,
[email protected]
M
Zone 11, Mexico & the
Caribbean:
Isabel Vargas Fernandez
Museo de Zoologia,
Facultad de Ciencias,
Univ. Nacional Autonoma, Mexico,
Apartado Postal 70-399,
Mexico 04510 D.F., Mexico
[email protected]
X
71
News of the Lepidopterists’ Society
Volume 53, Number 2
Incoming President Andrew Warren looking foolish at Charlie Covell presents Clench Award to Virginia Tilden at
banquet, Great Hall, Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Business Meeting, Osborn Lab. Photo: Sally Warren
Photo: Andrew Warren
John Shuey presents Karl Jordan Medal to Don Lafontaine. Kim Garwood studying skippers at Peabody Museum. Photo:
Photo: Andrew Warren
Andrew Warren
Men with Lepidoptera ties at banquet.
Women with Lepidoptera tattoos at banquet. Photo: Andrew
Warren
More Annual Meeting Photos...
72
Summer 2011