Santa Rita Mtns Fall Count

Date & Time: 
October 2, 2021 -
8:00am to 4:30pm
Meeting Place: 
Contact Mary if you want to participate
Compiler: 
Mary Klinkel
Compiler Email: 
grizzledelfin@gmail.com

 

Dear Butterfly Lovers,

 

Mark your calendars for Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021 and claim your territory for the Santa Rita Mts Fall Butterfly Count.  Due to COVID we will not be meeting early in the morning or having a compilation dinner in the late afternoon.

 

Most of you know the monsoon has been beyond spectacular this year and butterfly numbers are way up, although not all of the species have recovered yet.  With another month before the count, anything could happen!!  Elves could return, more great southern whites and/or other MX influx species could fly up here.

 

Let me know if you plan to help with this count and what territory you would like and who you would like to go with.  I will probably be the Snout Goddess Estimator but I still want you to count snouts in your area.  Let's go for the all-time high record number of snouts, I think we've got them!

 

Magic awaits you ...

Trip Butterfly Reports: 

Thirty people including 2 elementary school-age boys participated in this count on a perfect sunny day Oct. 2, 2021.  Monsoon rains were the 3rd highest ever recorded in Tucson, and contributed to lush flora and overwhelming numbers of certain butterfly species.  Those species were impossible to count and are noted with an asterisk in the list following, as estimates on the low side of actual numbers present.  Other species have not yet recovered from USDA "exceptional" drought category, although this year's monsoon moved SE AZ into "abnormally dry" from "exceptional", a shift of five categories.  List follows. Species in bold were new for the count.

  1. Pipevine Swallowtail                        Battus philenor  67
  2. Black Swallowtail                              Papilio polyxenes  4
  3. Western Giant Swallowtail             Heraclides rumiko  11
  4. Two-tailed Swallowtail                    Papilio multicaudata  13
  5. Chiricahua White                              Neophasia terlootii  2
  6. Checkered White                              Pontia protodice  38
  7. Great Southern White                     Ascia monuste  18
  8. Orange Sulphur                                  Colias eurytheme  105
  9. Southern Dogface                            Colias cesonia  475*
  10. Cloudless Sulphur                              Phoebis sennae  2,159*
  11. Large Orange Sulphur                       Phoebis agarithe  4
  12. Boisduval's Yellow                            Eurema boisduvaliana  1
  13. Mexican Yellow                                 Eurema Mexicana  1,945*
  14. Tailed Orange                                    Eurema proterpia  17,077*
  15. Mimosa Yellow                                  Eurema nise  30
  16. Sleepy Orange                                   Eurema nicippe  171
  17. Dainty Sulphur                                   Nathalis iole  21,907*
  18. Great Purple Hairstreak                   Atlides halesus  30
  19. Siva' Juniper Hairstreak                   Callophrys gryneus siva  1
  20. Gray Hairstreak                                  Strymon melinus  190
  21. Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak                 Strymon istapa  4
  22. Leda Ministreak                                 Ministrymon leda  725
  23. Western Pygmy-Blue                        Brephidium exile  125
  24. Marine Blue                                        Leptotes marina  144
  25. Ceraunus Blue                                    Hemiargus ceraunus  128
  26. Reakirt’s Blue                                     Hemiargus isola  65
  27.  ‘Echo’ Spring Azure                          Celastrina ladon  87
  28. Fatal Metalmark                                Calephelis nemesis  12
  29. Arizona Metalmark                           Calephelis arizonensis  22
  30. Mormon Metalmark                         Apodemia mormo  5
  31. Palmer's Metalmark                         Apodemia palmeri  883
  32. American Snout                                 Libytheana carinenta  83,276*
  33. Gulf Fritillary                                       Agraulis vanilla  11
  34. Variegated Fritillary                          Euptoieta claudia  9
  35. Theona Checkerspot                        Chlosyne theona  1
  36. Bordered Patch                                 Chlosyne lacinia  15
  37. Elf                                                         Microtia elva  3
  38. Tiny Checkerspot                               Dymasia dymas  148
  39. Elada Checkerspot                            Texola elada  189
  40. Texan Crescent                                  Phyciodes texana  58
  41. Question Mark                                   Polygonia interrogationis  3
  42. Mourning Cloak                                Nymphalis antiopa  2
  43. American Lady                                   Vanessa virginiensis  34
  44. Painted Lady                                      Vanessa cardui  61
  45. West Coast Lady                               Vanessa Annabella  3
  46. Red Admiral                                        Vanessa atalanta  3
  47. Common Buckeye                             Junonia coenia  1
  48. ‘Dark’ Tropical Buckeye                   J.genoveva nigrosuffusa  1
  49. Red-spotted Purple                           Limenitis arthemis astyanax   47
  50.  ‘Arizona’ California Sister               Adelpha bredowii  109
  51. Tropical Leafwing                             Anaea aidea  2
  52. Hackberry Emperor                          Asterocampa celtis  73
  53. Empress Leilia                                    Asterocampa leilia  3,636*
  54. Tawny Emperor                                 Asterocampa clyton  36
  55. Nabokov's Satyr                                Cyllopsis pyracmon  2
  56. Red Satyr                                             Megisto rubricate  1
  57. Red-bordered Satyr                          Gyrocheilus patrobas  97
  58. Monarch                                              Danaus plexippus  7
  59. Queen                                                  Danaus gilippus  80
  60. Dull Firetip                                          Pyrrhopyge araxes 5
  61. Dorantes Longtail                             Urbanus Dorantes  42
  62. Northern Cloudywing                       Thorybes pylades  3
  63. Arizona Powdered-Skipper              Systasea zampa  14
  64. White-patched Skipper                  Chiomara asychis  15
  65. Mournful Duskywing                        Erynnis tristis  4
  66. Funereal Duskywing                         Erynnis funeralis  195
  67. White/Common Checkered-Skipper          Pyrgus albescens/communis 131
  68. Desert Checkered-Skipper               Pyrgus philetas  17
  69. Erichson's White-Skipper                 Heliopyrgus domicella  2
  70. Laviana White-Skipper                    Heliopetes laviana  1
  71. Clouded Skipper                                Lerema accius  1
  72. Orange Skipperling                            Copaeodes aurantiacus  59
  73. Fiery Skipper                                       Hylephila phyleus  17
  74. Pahaska Skipper                                 Hesperia pahaska  1
  75. Sheep Skipper                                    Atrytonopsis edwardsii  2
  76. Nysa Roadside-Skipper                     Amblyscirtes nysa  1
  77. Eufala Skipper                                    Lerodea eufala  24
  78. Violet-clouded Skipper                    Lerodea arabus  17
  79. Arizona Giant-Skipper                      Agathymus aryxna  8

(plus vanessa sp. 9, duskywing sp. 1, unidentified lycaenid 2)

Thank you all for finding the second-highest number of species recorded in the eleven year history of this butterfly count!!    Mary Klinkel, compiler