Correction inserted...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Grkovich, Alex [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 3:14 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [VTLEPS] priority block survey
>
> Hi Patty...
>
> First, on the "white" Sulphurs: They are females (almost always...VERY
> rarely [Grkovich, Alex] males can be white - I've never seen one,
> knowingly) of Orange or Clouded Sulphurs, that
> occur quite frequently...It is suspected that they are part of a mimicry
> complex involving Whites (Cabbage, Checkered, Mustard, and West Virginia)
> ion the east that are unpalatable to birds...The much less conspicuous
> Pink
> Edged Sulphur (C. interior) has white females as well...Out west,
> unpalatable Parnassians join in the fray...This is known as Mullerian
> Mimicry - in which unpalatable butterflies all mimic each other in order
> to
> present a more formidable wall of distasteful butterflies to prospective
> vertebrate predators...The Monarch and Viceroy (and Queen and Soldier in
> the
> south) are examples of Batesian Mimicry, in which a palatable species
> mimics
> an unpalatable one (although recent evidence suggests that at least in the
> south and southwest, Viceroys may be inedible as well, such that this may
> be
> Mullerian Mimicry...another example of Batesian mimicry is the Pipevine
> Swallowtail as model (protected, inedible) for edible females of Black and
> Spicebush Swallowtails, black female Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (rare in
> central and northern New England), and Red Spotted Purples...
>
> The Wood Nymph problem is that what you are seeing is probably the
> Northern
> Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala [subspecies] nephele), which is the Wood
> Nymph
> "form" of the Canadian Zone areas of New England and the Upper
> Midwest...It
> is very dark form, lacking the light orange FW patch...The unusual thing
> about nephele is that (besides having a very fast flight) it very
> frequently
> visits flowers, which is quite uncharacteristic for Wood Nymphs (and
> Satyrs
> in general)...In central VT we should encounter all sorts of integrades
> between the Northern Wood Nymph (nephele) and the "Common" Wood Nymph (C.
> p.
> ochraceae, or alope, or whatever - the taxonomy of the Wood Nymphs needs
> review)...One final comment; in the southern part (lowland) of VT, watch
> for
> a form with the light orange or yellow patch well-developed, but with the
> LOWER FW eyespot much reduced...This is characteristic of the Southern
> Wood
> Nymph (C. p. pegala) which ranges north to coastal Virginia with
> integrades
> into New Jersey and occasionally into southeastern Mass. I found a couple
> like this near Green River, Windham Co (VT) last July 20th...Rather
> surprising to find this form so far north, but they obviously occur
> there...A future paper of The Taxonomic Report of TILS id planned which
> will
> deal with the entire "Common" Wood Nymph taxonomic situation...
>
> Alex
>
> PS I'm not trying to "push" TILS...I'm just informing that a paper is
> planned on the subject...
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jim Lambert [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 1:24 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: [VTLEPS] priority block survey
> >
> > My survey on the rail trail was the least productive ever. They have
> been
> > mowing the sides of the path so there were no wild flowers there. I
> guess
> > I need to find a new spot for the summer. I saw three large orange
> > butterflies they flew too fast or were too far away. ? Monarch or
> > Fritillary, 3 blue, 29 sulpher, fritillary,and a wood nymph. I thought I
> > saw 3 whites but I looked at 4 sulphers with binoculars or net and
> release
> > and found them to be very pale green almost white. If this is a white
> form
> > of the orange sulpher than maybe the whites that I thought were cabbage
> > white were not. I have a question. The wood nymph is not like to common
> > wood nymph I saw the other day so I don't know what it is. It is dark
> > brown on both sides and 2.5 inches across. The underside has two large
> > eye spots on the forewing. They are black with a white/silver center
> > surrounded by a thin yellow/tan ring. There are no eye spots on the hind
> > wing, just two very very tiny white spots. There is some
> > shading/watermark appearance like the back of a pearly eye. The same two
> > eye spots are on the front just not as bright as the back. Is it a
> > variation on the common wood nymph or something different? I will be
> > sending it in. Patty Lambert
> >
> >
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