Another Rarity: Nysa Roadside-Skipper in Colorado

This is what you get for exploring, observing, recording, and being curious: Surprises. I am not well-versed in things butterfly, but I do know when I haven't seen a particular species before. Even if I cannot say anything about a creature in the field, I can go and research it later. Such was the case of the Nysa Roadside-Skipper encountered on Monday, May 15, in Lamar, Prowers County, Colorado.

It always starts innocently enough, and sometimes results from disappointment over something else. I would much rather find interesting wasps, beetles, grasshoppers, and true bugs instead of butterflies, but it so happened that recent bad weather (a cold snap a couple weeks ago and heavy rains more recently) left little to find besides Lepidoptera in Lamar. Some Lepidopterist out there is going to make me envious by finding a cool wasp now.

So, my wife, Heidi, and our mutual friend Jill White Smith, took the field looking for birds and whatever other wildlife we could see. Jill is a very accomplished photographer. You can see her work at Nature Made Photography on Facebook, in fact. She does "people photography," too, as she puts it. She is also very generous and welcoming, and eagerly showed us around to her favorite haunts.

One of those habitats is an abandoned, unpaved road that is quickly becoming part of a dune or sandhill adjacent to the riparian corridor of Willow Creek, south of the Lamar Community College campus. Flies, damselflies, a few bees, and butterflies flew up every few steps. I happened to notice one small one land in the road, and I focused my camera. I could tell it was a skipper, but not one I had ever seen before. I had left my field guides at home, but that only served to build suspense.

We got home from the three-plus hour drive around eleven at night. After unloading the car, I consulted my Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. Thanks to Jim Brock and Kenn Kaufman, I quickly found my mystery skipper: the Nysa Roadside-skipper, Amblyscirtes nysa. The only "problem" was that the range map for the species does not include Colorado. Heidi did a bit more research and found only one Colorado record online at Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA), and no Colorado records on Bugguide.net. I consulted an old book, Butterflies and Moths of the Rocky Mountain States, and found no historical records for Colorado.

What do we know about this insect? Its known range is from Mexico, southeast Arizona, southern New Mexico, and the western two-thirds of Texas north and east through Oklahoma and the eastern two-thirds of Kansas, barely crossing into Missouri. There are between one and three generations ("broods") each year, depending on the geographic location of a given population. The caterpillars feed on grasses. The Kaufman guide adds: "Males perch in wash bottoms, road depressions, or along trails very early n the morning before retiring to shade for the afternoon." This guy was overdue for a nap, then, at almost 10:00 AM.

We also saw what I thought was a small Common Sootywing, but it turns out what I saw was the dorsal (top) view of this same skipper. I narrowly missed an opportunity to get a shot, but here is one of a specimen in Arizona:

© Philip Kline via Bugguide.net

Lastly, while taking images of the skipper, I noticed what might be the cutest beetle ever. I had to bring it home to get images. As near as I can tell, it is a darkling beetle in the genus Edrotes, for which there are also no Bugguide records for Colorado.

Discoveries like these await you, too. You do not have to know what you are looking at to enjoy the moment, capture it in pixels or digital video, and share it with others. You explore and observe often enough and long enough, and you are almost guaranteed to find something truly unusual, or even unknown.

Sources: Brock, Jim P. and Kenn Kaufman. 2003. Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 384 pp.
Ferris, Clifford D. and F. Martin Brown. 1981. Butterflies of the Rocky Mountain States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 442 pp.

Spring (Butterfly) Beauties

Spring has definitely “sprung” here at the Tucson Botanical Gardens. Many flowers are in bloom, and native butterflies are taking full advantage of the bounty of nectar. We are now up to forty (yes, 40) confirmed butterfly species seen on the grounds. Recent observations have yielded some surprises, including one supposedly rare species of skipper.

The “usual suspects” are here: Pipevine Swallowtail, Giant Swallowtail, Checkered White, Southern Dogface, Sleepy Orange, Dainty Sulphur, Gray Hairstreak (image above), Marine
Blue, Reakirt’s Blue, Fatal Metalmark, Gulf Fritillary, Texan Crescent, American Snout, and Painted Lady. What is new, then? Plenty.

One of the more startling species I spotted a couple weeks ago was a Desert Orangetip, Anthocharis cethura. Just as I focused my camera on it, away it flew. That figures. I haven’t seen one since, either.

Another mild surprise was a Mourning Cloak, Nymphalis antiopa (image below). This large, black butterfly with a creamy border is more typical of riparian areas since it feeds on willow in the caterpillar stage. This male specimen was frequenting the bird garden. He perched where he had a good vantage point and darted out after any intruder, especially other butterflies like Pipevine Swallowtails. After a brief chase he returned to the same area he started from. He even alighted on a visitor’s ballcap while I was watching.

The real shockers have come from the skippers in the family Hesperiidae. Sure, the Fiery Skipper, Orange Skipperling, Common Checkered-Skipper, and Eufala Skipper are common enough, but I’ve seen other species that I would not expect here. The first of these was a Sleepy Duskywing, Erynnis brizo, seen on March 4 (image below). This species feeds on oak as a caterpillar, so it really belongs a couple of thousand feet higher in elevation. There it was, though, on a Dalea blossom in the butterfly garden.

The Funereal Duskywing, Erynnis funeralis, is a much more likely species here at the Gardens. I finally spotted one on March 19, but failed to get a picture. This fast-flying skipper is fairly large. Mostly black, it has a blazing white border along the edge of its hind wing which makes it easily identifiable.

Another surprise was an Arizona Powdered-Skipper, Systasea zampa (image above), sitting on a brick in the barrio garden late in the afternoon of March 6. I initially figured it for a Fatal Metalmark, to which it bears superficial resemblance.

The Golden-headed Scallopwing, Staphylus ceos, also resembles a metalmark at first glance.

The most amazing of all the spring skippers was a Violet-clouded Skipper, Lerodea arabus. It is relatively non-descript (see image below), save for a distinct dark brown patch on the underside of its hind wing. Certainly no violet to be seen! You would think that this would be among the more abundant of butterfly species given that the caterpillar feeds on Bermuda grass, barnyard grass, and other weedy plants. Instead, most reference books list it as “rare.”

Last but not least, I added a species by proxy. One of the visitors to the Butterfly Magic greenhouse, Carolyn Vieira, mentioned to me that she also takes pictures of butterflies on the TBG grounds. I told her I had yet to see a Great Purple Hairstreak, Atlides halesus, and as luck would have it she had a picture she took a couple years ago or so. I still expect to see this spectacular butterfly here myself, but it is nice to have an existing record.

The diversity of wildlife to be found at the Tucson Botanical Gardens continues to astound me. Just in cursory observation I’m closing in on 200 species of animals, from arthropods to apes (we Homo sapiens). The wide variety of plants, and the constant watering no doubt provides a literal oasis for all.