wordless Wednesday

Mormon metalmark ~ 09/04/14 ~ Pinnacles

male Mormon metalmark on California buckwheat

male Apodemia mormo on Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum

(Shapiro)

Polygonaceae

Spotting a metalmark in flight out of the corner of my eye really gives the impression of a small grey butterfly, and I wondered at first if it was a blue or a copper.  However, the bright white spots are glaringly obvious once I can get a good line of sight on them.  I don't think there's anything else that looks remotely like them here.  They'll zip around the same area for a minute or two, briefly landing at different spots, before completely disappearing.  I even saw several pairs swirling in what seemed to be territorial chases, with one always quickly exiting.  I found one significantly larger metalmark, and based on published information, I'm assuming it was a female.  And therefore, I'm assuming the above smaller version is a male.  I could be wrong.

I'm thrilled to have gotten a halfway decent picture of this zippy little butterfly.  It's gorgeous (and surprisingly well-camouflaged - see below)!  I believe I saw my first metalmark two weeks ago on August 19, but I missed getting a better look as an off-duty ranger and his wife caught up with me on the trail and started a conversation.  I do much better tracking butterflies if I'm alone and without other trail travelers.  I have to laugh, because I recently overheard another hiker comment about how grouchy I was to her companion after they had passed me.  Sound really carries in the canyons.  Oh dear.

I found several Mormon metalmarks this day around separate CA buckwheat patches.  However, nude buckwheat (Eriogonum nudum) is the reported host plant for this region, so I'm not sure what it's doing on dried CA buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) flower stalks.  Certainly the nectar has all dried up.  There are a couple other buckwheats just starting to show buds in other locations, but I haven't ID'd them yet.  As a note for me later, I'm still not sure of the difference between the two reported CA buckwheat vars. in the area, polifolium or foliolosum.  I'm checking into it...

Find the Mormon metalmark among the CA buckwheat.

ps 09/10/14 - I've changed the ID above to foliolosum, even though I believe the hairier and grayer polifolium is also found in the area.

photo series ~ 05/13/14-07/29/14 ~ Pinnacles National Park - west

woolly yerba santa, woolly Indian paintbrush, California buckwheat

Eriodictyon tomentosum, Castilleja foliolosa, Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum
Boraginaceae, Orobanchaceae, Polygonaceae
May 13, 2014 to July 29, 2014

Pinnacles National Park - west entrance

Can you see the rhythm of nature's clock?  Look how the paintbrush trades its colors with the CA buckwheat.  I started taking these pictures on a whim and have been pleasantly impressed by the sly seasonal color changes at Pinnacles.  When I parsed these 12 weekly photos into 2 sets every other week, it becomes apparent that the rate of change is not a constant.  Fascinating.

ps 09/10/14 - I changed the var. of CA buckwheat from polifolium to what I believe is the greener, more common one along the road.

mountain mahogany hairstreak ~ 06/10/14 ~ Pinnacles

mountain mahogany hairstreak

Satyrium tetra

I asked Paul J. his ID of this individual, because I've never knowingly seen a mountain mahogany hairstreak before.  Although, I did note in the Pinnacles Count about seeing a hairstreak with a blue tail end (just like this one!) and was hoping my count partner from the Sequoias had gotten a picture.  Tiny, dark, zippy shadows.  The iridescent sheen looks so much like the hedgerow hairstreak I photographed only 2 days before that I can easily see getting them mixed up on the wing from a distance.  Up-close and depending on the lighting, it's darker than the hedgerow, without the bright copper color, and has an overall blue cast to the underside wings.  Other people note the white flecks in the wings and the pointier forewing tip compared to the hedgerow.  I have a hard time seeing other people's descriptions of shapes, so that doesn't work very well for me.  With the relative lack of tails, this is apparently a boy. 

ps 08/05/14 - Art also pointed out many male hairstreaks have a stigma on the forewing that shows through as a relief.  It's absent in females.

tailed copper ~ 06/03/14 ~ Pinnacles

tailed copper

Lycaena arota

(Shapiro and Tenney)

For such a plain Jane name, this tailed copper really packs a beautiful design punch in such a small package.  It was surprisingly quick, and I only managed 2 photos before it took flight.  I believe this was a male, if I recall the solid topside leather brown color correctly.  The female topsides have golden-hued window panes that seem to glow in a classic butterfly pattern.  I read their caterpillars eat gooseberry.  And, once again, that's CA buckwheat serving up tasty butterfly energy drinks.

western brown elfin ~ 06/03/14 ~ Pinnacles

western brown elfin

Callophrys augustinus (aka Incisalia augustinus iroides)

I followed a tiny dark shadow through the CA buckwheat patch.  In the bright sunlight, I wondered if it might be a hairstreak, like the mountain mahogany or hedgerow.  Nope.  It was so dark, the flash even went off in the second pic, highlighting the Impressionist painting vibe I get under certain lighting conditions.  It surprised me that it's on the wing now, since I last saw brown elfins at Pinnacles in early March.  This one looks pretty fresh, except for the huge bite out of its left wings - that's probably why I was able to approach it several times to take pictures.  This must be a second generation.  Let's see if there'll be a third, or even a fourth generation this year.

CA hairstreak ~ 06/01/14 ~ Pinnacles

California hairstreak

Satyrium californica

(Shapiro and Tenney)

Here's another worn-torn individual shown nectaring on CA buckwheat.  It's superficially similar to the grey hairstreak, down to similar bite marks out of the hind portion of their wings.  Those tail-end bright spots sure seem to do their job in keeping these little snack-sized morsels alive long enough to get to the worn-torn looking stage.  Cool beans.  I wonder what the spots look like under UV for bird predators?  Girl?  I can't tell.

gray hairstreak ~ 06/01/14 ~ Pinnacles

 gray hairstreak

Strymon melinus
(Shapiro and Tenney)

I have another photo (a bit too fuzzy to post) where there's a hint of barely there orange on top of the abdomen.  And, given how pointy the butt is, I'm guessing it's a boy.  Female gray hairstreaks have gray colored abdomens.  I'm glad to have him for the count, even if he's a bit worn.  Fresh grays are quite stunning and reportedly very common.  I first caught him on woolly yerba santa, and then he hopped over to CA buckwheat for another pose.

I noticed I'm developing a fondness for butterflies that tend to perch at about my waist-height, and at Pinnacles that usually means CA buckwheat and woolly yerba santa.  They're the ones I'm most likely to capture a natural pose with my point-and-shoot.  I've really enjoyed looking at my own macro shots, because I'm seeing details that are impossible in-person.  It's kind of a funny thing, I have an excellent dissecting scope with snake lights and several pairs of binoculars, but I don't like using them as visual aids.  It's just one of those quirks.

lupine blue ~ 05/20/14 ~ Pinnacles

lupine blue on California buckwheat
Plebejus lupini on  Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum
(Shapiro and BugGuide discussion)
Polygonaceae

edited 08/15/14 - I initially wrote a bunch of hooey about bloom times and timing of butterflies, which I've deleted for how utterly ignorant it was, and once again I've changed my mind about this ID from acmon back to lupini.  I tend to think of the non-early-spring female acmon as definitely having a true brown ground color, which this does not have.  Determination of female or male is still up in the air, because I've been told that male lupini can be quite dark like this (e.g., series of P. lupini monticola plates).  My understanding is the whole group of acmon/lupini is currently being revised.  So, for now, I can only make my best guess.

lupine blue ~ 05/13/14 ~ Pinnacles

lupine blue laying egg on California buckwheat
Plebejus lupini laying egg on Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum
(Shapiro and BugGuide discussion)
Polygonaceae

I told Art Shapiro about this day's visit, "Blues are numerous at Pinnacles with swirly flights of flirting and cooling fluttering clouds under shady rocks.  I love it.  I only wish I could tell them all apart.  Ha!"  This beautiful little blue butterfly has caused me so much headache you wouldn't believe.  No one seems to agree.  There are many variations of lupine blues depending on region, and there's also the look-alike acmon blue (Plebejus acmon) with a blue-colored early spring form female.  Who knew, all this time I've had a hard time figuring them out, and the experts also have a hard time figuring them out.

I didn't know I caught one laying eggs in a series of several photos until I got home and looked at my pictures.  I was so concerned with quickly sticking the little camera over there to hopefully, maybe, catch a decent picture that I wasn't actually watching what the butterfly was doing.  And, I'm paying attention to the difference between the two var. of CA buckwheat found at Pinnacles.  The one shown above could potentially be polifolium, the fuzzier one.

With Paul Johnson's encouragement, this is the butterfly that has changed my mind about collecting for research.  I wanted to make sure any collecting I do would not be merely self-indulgent.  I am not a hobbyist butterfly collector.  However, I believe collecting in this case is worth the contribution to our understanding of these fascinating little blue butterflies.  I will be applying for a collecting permit, and the specimens and associated plant data are tentatively earmarked for the Pinnacles National Park collection.

lupine blue ~ 05/06/14 ~ Pinnacles

lupine blue freshly emerged and resting on California buckwheat
Plebejus lupini freshly emerged and resting on Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium
(Shapiro and BugGuide discussion)
Polygonaceae

CA buckwheat ~ 06/09/11 ~ Pinnacles

California buckwheat
Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum
Polygonaceae

updated 09/10/14 - There are 4 var. of Eriogonum fasciculatum, and only 2 are reported for Pinnacles.  I'm pretty confident now that this is the greener foliolosum and not the fuzzy, grayer polifolium.  The original post is below:

Good golly! This is my best guess for buckwheat. At least I'm starting to familiarize myself with a few of the 268 Eriogonum species/varieties found in California. It's no wonder so many animals feed on buckwheats, including caterpillars of the bernardino dotted blue shown previous to this post. There's also a fun, mysterious arthropod peeking around the flowers in the second pic above.

The following Eriogonum names were taken from the 2005 Pinnacles plant list and the embedded links are for my future reference:

(CalPhotos) --- (Calflora) --- (Jepson)
angle-stemmed buckwheat --- E. angulosum --- chaparral
Coville's buckwheat --- E. covilleanum --- rock & scree
elegant buckwheat --- E. elegans --- riparian
long-stemmed buckwheat --- E. elongatum --- rock & scree
California buckwheat --- E. fasciculatum var. foliolosum --- chaparral
California buckwheat --- E. fasciculatum var. polifolium --- chaparral
graceful buckwheat --- E. gracile var. gracile --- chaparral
Pinnacles buckwheat --- E. nortonii --- rock & scree
nude buckwheat --- E. nudum var. auriculatum --- rock & scree
nude buckwheat --- E. nudum var. indictum --- chaparral
virgate buckwheat --- E. roseum --- rock & scree
rock buckwheat --- E. saxatile --- rock & scree
Wright's buckwheat --- E. wrightii var. subscaposum --- rock & scree