SE Arizona -September 2018

[Sylvie_h]

There are about 330 species of butterflies in Arizona which comes second after Texas. This is due to the diversity of habitats in the state. From Alpine meadows of the White Mountains to canyons and deserts, Arizona has it all. It would take a whole year or more for anybody to see them all. There are butterflies flying all year round. The south eastern corner of Arizona near the Mexican border is interesting as a lot of species can only be found there and further south into Mexico. It is also true for dragonflies and birds.
The climate is hot in this part of the country, we spent a couple weeks there in early September and even with the monsoon (which runs from middle of July to middle of September), the temperatures were still high (up to 42 degree C at midday). The first few days we were there, we saw a couple of storms with torrential rain but they only last a couple of hours and then the sun is back out again. This is when the flowers are blooming and with this blooming come the butterflies and many other insects.
It took me a while to go through all my pictures. The trip concentrated on dragonflies, butterflies and birds but there were also many interesting beetles, reptiles, amphibians adapted to harsh environments, wasps and bees. I have identified all my butterflies photos and I have tried to gather some information about some species that I hope you will find interesting in this thread.

SWALLOWTAILS (Papilionidae):
There are 13 species of Swallowtails in Arizona.

I saw many Swallowtails flying around but it was difficult to identify them all as they are very elusive, fast and hardly approachable.

Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes): a very powerful flyer, restless even when it lands somewhere. Wings are moving constantly when taking minerals from the ground.

Giant Swallowtail

Giant Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus Philenor): early in the morning was the best time to get shots of this species. There were many around everywhere we went but they seemed to prefer damp areas and settled down to suck minerals. The hostplant is Indian Root. This plant has a chemical that deters herbivores. The larvae of the Pipevine Swallowtail stores this chemical and pass it on to the adult making it distasteful to birds. The female flies low on the ground to find the foodplant which she can find by chemistry and leaf shape. The female will only lay on leaves that have no eggs and will lay a cluster of eggs on the underside of the leaf.

Pipevine Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail
Pipevine Swallowtail

More to come ....

Sylvie

[Kip]

Lovely shots. I'm looking forward to seeing more!

[Chris Jackson]

Wow, Sylvie, that is tantalising.
How lucky you are to have had this experience, although I can do without the 42°C
Chris

[petesmith]

That's a mouth-watering first post - very much looking forward to the next installment!

[David M]

Fabulous appetiser, Sylvie. Can't wait for the plat du jour!!

[Sylvie_h]

Thank you for your replies. You are quite right Chris, the temperature was unbearable and at midday, one tends to look for the shade and so do the majority of insects especially dragonflies. Some Arizonians told us that this temperature was unusual at this time of year. It should have been in the low 30s. We used to get up early to be where ever we wanted to be at 7am. We saw many species that we would not have been able to see later in the day.

WHITE AND SULFURS (Pieridae)
There are 36 species in Arizona.

Checkered White (Pontia Protodice) : Found in plains, canyons and also near water.

Checkered White

checkered White

Orange Sulfur (Colias eurytheme):
I have identified this specimen as Orange Sulfur. Identification of the Sulfurs is difficult and I would be happy to be corrected by the experts if I am wrong.

Orange Sulfur

Southern Dogface (Zerene Cesiona): called so because its ups has an eye and a black border shape on a yellow background that looks like a dog in profile. I was not able to see this for myself as the butterflies were not willing to flatten their wings.

Southern Dogface

Cloudless Sulfur (Phoebis Sennae): A rather big butterfly, flying erratically from one flower to the other. But likes puddling with other yellows.

Cloudless Sulfur

Cloudless sulfur

Mexican Yellow (Eurema Mexicana): found only in canyons or near streams. This butterfly likes puddling with other yellows.

Mexican Yellow

Tailed Orange (Eurema Proterpia): like the Mexican yellow, it is a butterfly we found in damp areas, puddling in significant numbers, when disturbed, they flew all over the place forming clouds of yellow and orange. It was quite impressive. In Arizona, there are 2 forms: one in the dry season which has a tail and one in the wet season which has no tail.

Tailed Orange

Tailed Orange

Tailed Orange puddling

Sleepy Orange (Eurema Nicippe): similar to tailed orange. Many seen puddling.

Sleepy Orange

Sleepy Orange

More to come...
Sylvie

[Goldie M]

Really fantastic Butterflies sylvie, Love the different Swallow Tails too , hope there's more to come,Goldie

[petesmith]

Some wonderful photo's of the Pierids there Sylvie! You did a much better job than I managed during my recent Costa Rica trip - I found them very difficult to get close to, especially the Cloudless Sulfurs and the Eurema species. They rarely seemed to settle. Fascinating to see your form of the Tailed Orange - the ones we saw were of the tailed variety with very different underside markings, as below. Looking forward to the next batch!

Pete

[Sylvie_h]

Thank you, Goldie, I am glad you enjoy this thread. There will be more to come.
Hi Pete,
Costa Rica having a tropical climate may have only one form of the Tailed Orange. The Tailed Orange found in the Spring in Arizona has the same form as the specimen you photographed (nice photo).

GOSSAMER-WING BUTTERFLIES (Lycaenidae): in North America, this group includes the hairstreaks, Blues, Coppers (absent in SE Arizona), and Harvesters (absent in Arizona).

Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus): All the specimens seen were in a pristine condition. This specimen was rather tame. However after about 3 minutes of observation, it turned round to show me its 'rear'. I realised then how much it looked like the head with both eyes and the antennae on each side. A bird will peck at this thinking it is the head and the butterfly will be able to escape safely.
I did find one specimen who however did not escape the vicious bite of a crab spider....

Gray Hairstreak

Gray Hairstreak

Gray Hairstreak

Leda Ministreak (Ministrymon leda).: there are 2 forms of this butterfly in Arizona, a spring form and a fall form. The latter has more reduced orange on its underside than the spring form. I find the yellow eyes quite striking.

Leda Ministreak

Western Pygmy Blue (Brephidium exilis): very active tiny butterfly and very alert. Very difficult to photograph, it took me half an hour to get a decent shot. We only found it in one place and was not widely distributed.

Western Pygmy Blue

Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon): found in a canyon mountain while hiking up. We stopped to look at the scenery and I saw a cloud of these flying around the top of the trees. One flew down to rest on a leaf next to the path.

Spring Azure

Ceraunus Blue (Hemiargus ceraunus) and Marine blues (Leptotes marina) were very common and found together seeping minerals from damp patches. They seem to like puddling in numbers and when disturbed, they would fly in all directions creating flashes of blue.

Ceraunus Blue

Marine Blue

Marine Blues

Reakirt’s Blue (Hemiargus isola): the book I used for identification explains that the larvae of this butterfly can be attended by more than 10 species of ants while feeding on Whitethorn Acacia (its foodplant). It feeds the ants with a supply of sugary fluid. When ready to pupate the larvae goes down to the ground and enters the nest of one of the ants. Later, when the imago emerges it has 2 minutes to find its way out of the nest, otherwise it will be killed.

Reakirt's Blue

[Goldie M]

Lovely shot of the puddling Blues sylvie , That's interesting what you say abut the Reakirt's Blue, it reminds me that some of our Blues also rely on Ants to a certain extent if I'm right. Goldie

[petesmith]

Sylvie, you are seriously tempting me to plan a trip out to Arizona! Fabulous shots of my favourite group of butterflies - that Gray Hairstreak is sublime, and your two-tone Western Pygmy Blue is glorious!

[David M]

Fabulous, Sylvie! This area seems to have an interesting mix of butterflies that closely resemble European species along with many that appear distinctly tropical.

I'd be perfectly happy to endure a few sweltering afternoons to see what you've seen.

[Sylvie_h]

Hi Goldie,

Indeed the larvae of a lot of our blues in Europe depends on the ants, but the larvae is picked up by the ants and brought to the nests by the ants which is not the case for Reakirt's. I find that connection fascinating.

Hi David and Pete,
I would definitively recommend a trip there. Arizona is easy to get to, it is safe and it has a lot of literature about butterflies so one can gather a lot of information before going there and be well prepared. The heat can be bothersome but there are so many different species to be seen that to some extent one tends to forget the heat. The scenery is gorgeous, I could easily spend a few years over there if I had the chance.

I will be posting more pictures later on...
Sylvie

[Sylvie_h]

METALMARKS (Riodinidae) is a group that is found mainly in the tropics where there are around 1000 species. They also have an association with ants.

Palmer’s Metalmark (Apodemia palmeri): One of my favourites. They are very tolerant of each other. They can be seen feeding on the same flower bumping into one another.

Palmer's Metalmark

Palmer's Metalmark

Arizona Metalmark (Calephelis arizonensis): Another little gem.

Arizona Metalmark

Arizona Metalmark

[Sylvie_h]

BRUSH FOOTED FAMILY this is a big family which includes, Snouts, Heliconians and Fritillaries, True Brush Foot (checkerspots, crescents, commas, ladies), Admirals and relatives, Leafwings, Emperors, Satyrs, Monarch. They are called Brush footed or four-footed because the front legs are shorter. These are difficult to see as they are nearly always folded underneath the head. The female uses the tip of this foot to test the chemistry of the hostplant.

American Snout (Libytheana carinenta): this was the first butterfly seen right on the front door of the house we were renting the first morning we were there. We were soon to discover millions more of these snouts everywhere, they were out in force. Some got a lift with us, I found 2 on the back seat of the car. I am not sure how they got in but I did release them to a more suitable place. I have never seen so many in my life. They seem to be considered as a pest over there, a bit surprising for us Europeans as this is quite a scarce species in Europe.

American Snout

Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanilla): this must be my favourite butterfly. It was spotted in one place only near water and with flowers. It was seen taking nectar and minerals. This is a real beauty. We were lucky to see fresh specimens like those.

Gulf Fritillary

Gulf Fritillary

Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta Claudia) :A rather big butterfly. It was difficult to get a picture of the underside as the butterfly kept its wings flat when resting. Seen near water.

Variegated Fritillary

Variegated Fritillary

[Sylvie_h]

TRUE BRUSH FOOTS (Nymphalinae):

Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia): a common species, seen in any habitats. A very variable species on the upperside.

Bordered Patch

Bordered Patch

Bordered Patch

Tiny Checkerspot (Dymasia dymas) : very small in size. It is similar and very often seen with Elada Checkerspot as it shares the same habitat.

Tiny Checkerspot

Tiny Checkerspot

Elada Checkerspot (Texola elada): another tiny beautiful butterfly.

Elada Checkerspot

Elada Checkerspot

Painted Crescent (Phyciodes picta): I am not too sure about the identification of this one as some crescents are very much alike. It was found near the Mexican border. I would be happy to have the opinion of the experts on this one. It could well be Myllitta Crescent.

Painted Crescent

Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) : found near water.

Pearl Crescent

American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis): These were seen near their foodplant : white Cud Weed which were starting to bloom.

American Lady

American Lady

[Sylvie_h]

ADMIRALS AND RELATIVES (LIMENITIDINAE):

Mourning Cloak in the US / Camberwell Beauty in our area (Nymphalis antiopa) : I had seen this species in France many years ago so I was delighted to see it again. It was found in a canyon flying from one tree to the other but always coming back to perch on its favourite spot.

Mourning Cloak

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia): A difficult butterfly to photograph. It takes off very quickly and it is difficult to see where it’s gone.

Common Buckeye

Red-Spotted Admiral (Limenitis arthemis) : is a batesian mimic of the Pipevine Swallowtail. It looks very much like it but has no tail. The behaviour is also different, the RSA was flying from one tree to another and would settle on one leaf a few meters high, while the Pipevine Swallowtail was lower down on the ground seeping out minerals from damp patches. This specimen was seen in a canyon along with the Pipevine Swallowtail and I thought first they were the same species. However, the behaviour indicated that it was different.

Red Spotted Admiral

Viceroy (Limenitis archippus): found near water seeping minerals, it indeed prefers damp areas. Although it looks like belonging to the Monarch family, it belongs to the Admiral family. Its hostplant being Aspen and Cottonwood rather than Milkweed.

Viceroy

Viceroy

Arizona Sister (Adelpha Eulalia): I had identified this as California Sister but I’ve read that both species had been set apart as there are some differences in both, the Arizona Sister being larger than the California Sister. The markings on the ups are also slightly different. This specimen was again feeding on minerals so gave us the opportunity to take some nice shots. We were in luck because although we saw many of these flying around, it was the only one specimen that settled down to feed. The underside is something out of this world…..

Arizona Sister

Arizona Sister

[petesmith]

Wow-just incredible shots. I am so jealous! And those Arizona Sisters...

[Roger Gibbons]

I'll echo Pete's comments. Europe only has one or two species to come close to rivalling the underside of the Arizona Sister.

I am also in awe of the beautiful Camberwell Beauty - perfectly fresh and posing so obligingly. I see the same behaviour in Var, but they are hibernators and nowhere near as fresh as this one.

Interesting to note the superficial similarities with some European species, especially the blues that look almost identical to Lang' Short-tailed.

I'll book my ticket now...

Roger

[David M]

Wow. Some of those butterflies are beyond intoxicating...

Palmer’s Metalmark looks like a Marsh Frit/Duke hybrid. Gulf Fritillary is stunning beyond words (no wonder it was your favourite), but for me the Arizona Sister is so beautiful as to be almost unreal.

What a gem of a place you have visited, Sylvie.