Watching Washington Butterflies With Bob Pyle: Number Five

In my last column, I discussed the particular thrill of finding new state records, and told the stories of six such discoveries with which I have been lucky enough to be involved. For this installment, I promised to predict the next six state records I think we will discover. I can’t say with any certainty, of course, that these will be the next six-they probably won’t, since surprises always arise. But I do believe that these half- dozen butterflies all stand a good chance of joining our state roster in the relatively near future.

Our new state records will come from two distinct groupings of candidates. I will pick three top contenders, and name a few other possibilities, from each of these groups.

The first category comprises the nonresident immigrants, often called “migrants” or “strays.” These butterflies advance into the North from their Mexican or Southwest breeding grounds each summer, in variable numbers. They lack a hard winter diapause, but they are turning up farther north each summer as the climate warms. Their incursions depend upon weather as well as climate, as they need good nectar and favorable flight weather to make much of a run on the North. Therefore some years see many immigrants and other years few or none. The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) is our sole true, back-and-forth migrant in the sense of birds. Apart from that, our only more or less regular immigrants are the Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) and other vanessas. We have recorded a few southern species just once or twice, such as the Dainty Sulphur (Nathalis iole) and Reakirt’s and Pygmy blues (Echinargus isola and Brephidium exilis). These and other immigrants will usually be found in our southern tier of counties.

The second candidate group includes truly resident species that have simply been overlooked in the past, or that have recently colonized inside our borders. There can’t be many of these left, but I’ll bet there are a few yet to be found and more to arrive.

These new records will probably all turn up in the northern tier of counties, especially in the north- central and northeastern alpine regions, or else in the more remote Blue Mountains; and likely deep within seldom-butterflied wilderness or other neglected habitats.

My top predictions among the immigrants:

1. Buckeye (Junonia coenia): This gorgeous nymphalid is probably a year-round resident in southwest Oregon, and it has been recorded in summer to within one county of the Columbia River in central Oregon. Actually, Barbara Laudan believes she saw a Buckeye in Kelso in 1953, and I think she is likely right in her recollection. But the record is too old to be counted in the absence of a voucher specimen or photograph. The confirmatory record could show up in almost any location or habitat, but be on the lookout for it especially in flowery, weedy areas along and near the Gorge.
2. Cloudless (Giant) Sulphur (Phoebis sennae): If you see a great big, untailed, clear lemon-yellow butterfly, it will be this one. Ubiquitous throughout the South, it is a common summer immigrant as far north as Connecticut, Colorado, and mid-California. Sight records have been obtained in Oregon and Montana, and it will surely turn up in Washington one day soon. We lack its senna hostplants, so anywhere is about as good to watch out for it as anywhere else; but keep in mind that wanderers commonly follow watercourses. That certainly applies to coliadines (members of the sulphur subfamily).
3. Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia): More than once I’ve thought I was on the trail of one of these long-distance movers, but it has always turned out to be a true frit or a worn Satyr Anglewing, except for one in Idaho that I really think was IT. Claudia vaguely resembles fritillaries above, but her longer, narrower wings are paler or reddish in color, and blurry-webby-mottled below. A generalist feeder, the species can reach and summer-breed in almost any open habitat. Numerous Colorado individuals appear from lowest plains to highest peaks. B.C. and ID records give us high hopes here.

Additional immigrants we should keep an eye out for, roamers that sometimes turn up in adjacent territories and are therefore plausible here, include the Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus); the California and Southern dogfaces (Zerene eurydice and cesonia), the Sleepy and Tailed oranges (Abaeis nicippe and Eurema proterpia) , the Mexican Yellow (Eurema mexicana), the Great Purple Hairstreak (Atlides halesus), the Marine Blue (Leptotes marina), the Queen (Danaus gilippus), and the Pipevine (Battus philenor) and Giant (Papilio cresphontes) swallowtails. As for new records among resident species, my hot picks are these:

1. Gillett’s Checkerspot (Euphydryas gillettii): With twinberries (Lonicera spp.) as its required hostplants, this Northern Rockies endemic is clearly not host-limited. Certain inscrutable factors keep it tethered to its narrow range and highly localized occurrence. I’ve seen what appears to be excellent habitat in the Salmo-Priest Wilderness Area in northeastern Washington, and there may be appropriate sites in the Blues. An old record from near Priest Lake, ID (Stan Jewett) and a recent discovery near Hat Point in Oregon’s Blue Mountains (Harold Rice) give us hope that this exquisite red-banded checker could yet be found to exist in Washington.
2. Aphrodite Fritillary (Argynnis (Speyeria) aphrodite): Our state hosts every far-western fritillary species except for three southwestern specialties and, apparently, this one. Actually Aphrodite is largely eastern and midwestern, but ranges through the Rockies too, and reaches northern ID and south-central BC. It seems highly unlikely that it won’t appear somewhere in a fritillary-filled patch of thistles or mints in the Pend Oreille or Okanogan Highlands. Aspirants for this record should be prepared to examine closely lots and lots of frits, ever watchful for this goddess’s particular markings.
3. Draco Skipper (Polites draco): A number of Rocky Mountain species of the arctic-alpine zone– arctics, alpines, lesser fritillaries–inspire wild ideas of finding them in the quite limited heights of the Selkirk Mountains in our northeast corner. Gypsy Ridge, between Sullivan Peak and the Salmo River, has always struck me as a possible place to seek them. Probably the most likely Rockies resident to reach into Washington will be Draco, the Dragon: maybe named, and certainly distinguished, by the sharp, silvery tooth extending from its spotband below. Search for this bright skipper on high grassy slopes between Mount Spokane and the Canadian border: how about a search for this one as a group objective for the 2011 annual conference, based in Newport?

Other resident species we should keep our eyes out for along our northern frontiers include the Giant Sulphur (Colias gigantea), the Gray Copper (Lycaena dione), the Gorgone Crescent (Chlosyne gorgone), the Rockslide Checkerspot (Chlosyne damoetas), Macoun’s Arctic (Oeneis macounii), and a confirmatory record for the White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis) for which our only record was likely a hitchhiker from the East rather than a Northwest native, which occurs in lower B.C. not so far away.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of potential new state records for Washington. I have little doubt that other species, which have never even occurred to me as likely, will turn up-that element of surprise is, after all, much of the joy of the pursuit! But this list may give you something to go on in your own explorations, and it will be fun to see whether any of it pans out in field seasons to come.

In order to prove your record, and have it accepted in the Northwest Lepidoptera Survey data base and added to the Washington State checklist, you will need to secure either a voucher specimen or an indisputable photograph. Sight records are generally unacceptable for significant records, unsupported by vouchers or definitive photos. Immigrant individuals and their offspring are unlikely to survive the winter, and any newly disclosed resident population can afford a voucher or two (especially males) without suffering harm to the population. Make sure that either specimens or photos are accompanied by precise data consisting of location, date, habitat description, conditions, and observer/collector/photographer(s). Turn any new records in through the normal channels, to Ann Potter, Jon Pelham, Idie Ulsh, or me.

As a final note, I would draw your attention to the crying need for backpacking butterfliers! We have not been the most adventurous lot in that respect, and almost every time folks with a net and a good eye for leps have ventured into unsampled wilderness, they have been rewarded by substantial range extensions if not county or state records: for example, Jon Shepard, Merrill Peterson, and the Vail family, in the Pasayten Wilderness Area; Ed and Cathy Maxwell, Sharon Colman, and Bill Yake, in the High Olympics; David James and others in the Blue Mountains; and so on. Do you know that the entire Pickett Range in North Cascades National Park remains terra incognito for its butterflies? And the same is true for many of our national park and national forest wilderness areas.

So, strap on your boots, gird your loins, and get

out there. Good hunting!

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