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BUTTERFLIES
THROUGH
BINOCULARS
THE WEST
A FIELD GUIDE TO
THE BUTTERFLIES OF
WESTERN NORTH AMERICA
Jeffrey Glassberg
RD
U NIVEIt S ITV PRESS
2001
Contents
Acknowledgments VII
INTRODUCTION 1
BINOCULARS 2
NETTING 3
HOW TO IDENTIFY BUTTERFLIES 4
HOW TO FIND BUTTERFLIES 6
WHAT IS A BUTTERFLY 9
BUTTERFLY BIOLOGY 10
BUTTERFLY GARDENING 17
BUTTERFLY PHOTOGRAPHY FOR NON PHOTOGRAPHERS 18
CONSERVATION 28
COMMERCIALLY RAISED BUTTERFLIES 3 1
ABOUT THE SPECIES ACCOUNTS 32
ABOUT THE MAPS 36
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHS 37
ABBREVIATIONS 39
BUTTERFL Y WING AREAS AND BODY PARTS 40
RANGE MAP COLORS AND INFORMATION 41
SPECIES ACCOUNTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS 42
SWALLOWTAILS 42
Parnassians 42
True Swallowtails 44
WHITES AND YELLOWS 52
Whites 52
Yellows 60
GOSSAMER-WINGS 74
Coppers 74
Hairstreaks 84
Blues 106
METALMARKS 128
vi • CON TENTS
BRUSH FOOTS 134
Snout and Heliconians 134
Greater and Lesser Fritillaries 136
Patches, Checkers pots and Crescents 156
True Brushfoots 182
Ad mirals and Relatives 190
Emperors 200
Satyrs 202
Monarchs 2 14
SKIPPERS 216
Firetips and Spread-wing Skippers 2 16
Skipperlings 248
Grass-Skippers 250
Giant-Skippers 290
RARE STRAYS AND EASTERN SPECIES
MARGINALLY ENTERING THE WEST 296
SPECIES DUBIOUSLY REPORTED
TO HAVE OCCURRED NATURALLY 301
Supplementary Text 303
Photo Dates, Locations and Credits 314
Faodplant Scientific Names 343
Organizations Concerned with Butterflies 347
Glossary 349
Butterfly Silhouettes 351
Bibliography 355
Index 361
Acknowledgments
THIS BOOK COMPLETES TH E MASSIVE PROJECT I BEGAN TEN YEARS AGO, to devel -
op a series of field guides that would, for the first time, allow people to
identify most individual butterflies they see in the field . Obtaining the
photographs needed for these guides required a tremendous amount of
time in the field. The effort and dedication needed to undertake and follow
through with this prujea wo uld not have been possible wi thou t the sup-
port and belief in me, and in Ihe value of this work, of my wife, Jane
Vicroy Scott. J can only hope that Jane's love, support , and persona l sacri-
fice are repaid by this buok's leading to an increase in bUllerfly appreciation
and conservation that makes our future world just a little beller, and more
colorful. than it would have been otherwise.
Without the help of my son, Mall Scott, this book would probably have
never been completed . In addilion to setting up computer hardware and
installing snftware, he patiently ta ught me how to use the software
requi red to do the plate layouts and create the maps.
Although many other people have contributed directly to the creation
of this guide, two individuals have made especially extensive and critica l
contribulions. Jim Brock and Andy Warren provided help in almost all
a reas needed to produce Ihis book . Jim's special interest is caterpillars and
their foodplanlS. (For Quite a few southeastern Arizona species, their
caterpillar foodplant is published here for the first lime, based upon as yel
unpublished informa tion discovered by Jim Brock. He will expand upon
this in a forthcoming caterpillar field guide.) Andy's focus is the systemal -
ics of neotropical skippers. In addition to their specialties, both Jim and
Andy are exceptionally knowledgeable abou t almost a ll aspects of western
butterflies. A deep bow of res pea and my continuing gratitude to you
both .
The following individuals ki ndly provided informa tion aboUi bUller-
flies and loca lities so tha t I could obtai n photographs for I his book: Norbert
viii • ACK NOWLEDGMENTS
Kondla for Alberta; Richard Bailowitz. Jim Brock. and Harry Zirlin for Ari-
zona; Ray Coyle. Wanda Damero n. Greg de Nevers. John Emmel. Ken
Hansen. Fred Heath. Bob Langston . Jack Levy. Rud y Mattoni. J im MarL
Dave Powell. Ralph Wells. and Harry Zirlin for California; Paul Opler and
Andy Warren for Colorado; Steve Kohler for Montana; Steve Cary for
New Mexico; George Austin for Nevada; H .A. freeman and Ro Wauer for
Texas; Todd Stout for Utah; Bob Pyle for Wa shington; Ernest Williams and
Andy Warren for Wyomi ng.
John Acorn accompanied me 10 windswept Plateau M oun tain in Alber-
ta, where we chased green- tinted Labrador Sulphurs over eerily beautiful
high tundra. but. alas. Alberta or Astarte Fritillaries we did not see; a film
crew from an Oklahoma TV station trailed Jim Brock and me down Cali -
fornia Gulch in Arizona on a successful quest for Cestus Skipper, nabbing
excellent video footage ofthis rare species; Aaron Ellingson and I watched
hundreds of Purplish Fritillaries glisten in the sun as they spread thei r
dew-covered wings to dry and awaken, high above treeline on Muullt
Uncompahgre in the San Juan MOUllt.3ins of southern Colorado; Eric
Finkelstein and David Larson of the Amistad National Recreation area in
Del Rio, Texas joined us for an exciting hunt among the Iccheguilla for
Mary's Gianl-Skipper- Coahuila Giant-Skipper still beckons; Fred Heath
proved an excellent shepherd. as he herded Jane and me through Sentenac
Canyon. showing us our firsl 'Da mmers' DOlled Blue and California
Giant-Skippers on our first visit to Allza-Borrego State Park in California;
docent Jim Mori a t Big Trees Slate Park in California wowed us with the
attractive pull of pussypaws; I was led on a brisk five -mile walk up 10
13,000 feet on Red Cloud Mountain-no mean feat lor a fifty-year-uld lIat-
lander from New Jersey- by the irrepressible Amy Seidl. whu has been
studyi ng the federally endangered 'Uncompahgre ' Dingy Fritillaries that
live there; meeting at Rabbit Ears Pass in nort hwestern Colorado. Andy
Warren and I had a fritillary fest . photographing mosl of the ten species
found there. Thank you all for your willingness to help. I hope Ihat all of
you had as much fun as I did on Ihose fiel d trips and thai you approve of
the resu lts.
Others whose help is greatly apprecia ted include: Bruce Blanthorn,
who provided horses and experllrail knowledge in the Wind River Moull -
tains of Wyoming and whose indefatigable border collie. Misty. was one of
the most amazing dogs I've ever seen; my exploration of Mesa Verde
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • ;x
National Park was greatly facilitated by Marilyn Colyer of the U. S. Parks
Service who was instrumental in my obtaining a permit un very, very
short notice; our visit to Plateau Mountain was made possible by Dave
Heatherington and the Alberta Land and Forest Service, who provided LIS
with permits and keys; special thanks to Officer Dave Lankford of the
Wyoming State Police for stopping my wife and me for speeding just out-
side of Pinedale, Wyoming. The spot where he pulled us over was alive
with Rudd y Coppers and Sonoran Skippers, and photos 3 and 4 on page
81, and photo 5 and the inset to photo 4 on page 265 resulted. Officer
Lankford did seem sligh tly mystified by my apparent grealer interest in the
grassy area across the road (! kept wandering over there ) than in the
speeding issue at hand; a very large and warm thank-you to Pilar and
Andres Sada of Monterrey, Mexico, [or their graciolls hospitality and
friendship, on multiple occasions allowing me to stay at Rancho Picachos,
where a numher of the photographs that appear in this guide were taken.
Thanks also to Kirk Jensen and Helen Mules of Oxford University Press for
their careful help in producing the previous books in this series.
In preparing this work, there were many occasions when I examined
museum specimens for identification features and for geographical and
temporal distributions. ! thank Jim Miller, Eric Quinter, and Cal Snyder at
the America n Museum of Natu ral History, New York, and John Bums and
Bob Robbins at the Uni ted States National Mu seum, SInithsonian Institu -
tion, Washington, D.C., for all owing me 10 examine specimens under their
care. Paul Hammond of Oregon State Universi ty and Don Harvey and Bob
Robbins at the Smithsonian Institution helped me pursue the systematic
position of the White Mountains populations of Atlantis Fritillary by dis-
secti ng specimens-and detemlining that they did indeed belong to the
Atlan tis group despite having dirrerenl eye color.
A critical fea ture of this book is the photographs. Although I have trav -
eled extensively in the West for years, searching for and photographing
butterflies, still , in the end, there were some 54 of tbe L 136 photographs
needed for this book that I did not have. The following individuals gener-
ously provided their own photographs to fill the gaps (see Photo Dates,
Localities and Credits section for credits for specific photugraphs): Dave
Abrenbolz, Ahmet Baytas, Rob Boender, Jim Brock, Priscilla Brodkin,
Steve Cary, Rick Cech, John Emmel, Chri s Guppy, John Hafemik, Steve
Kohler, Ja ck Levy, Bill Mull, S. Mark Nelson, Phil Nordin, Dave Nun-
x • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
nallee, Paul Opler, Steve Prchal. Ed Ross, Jane Ruffin, Jeff Siotten, Bob
Stewart, and Ann Swengel.
An important feature of this guide are the range maps. Arter conStruct-
ing a prelim inary set of maps, using all published and much unpublished
information, I sent these maps to active field workers through out the West
for review. The following reviewers, arranged by slalC or province of resi-
dence, great ly increased the accuracy of the maps. Many of the reviewers
were knowledgeable abou t whole regions. I am indebted to them lOT tak-
ing the considerable time required to closely inspect the almust 500 maps
and suggest detailed changes, based upon their firsthand knowledge (i ndi -
viduals in the states of North Dakota, Sou th Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas
are included because of their review of the range maps during the prepa-
ration of BTB: The East): Alberta, Norbert Kondla; Arizona, Richard
Bailowitz, Jim Brock; British Columbia, Jon Shepard; California. John
Emmel. Ken Hansen, Jack Levy, Jim Mori. Art Shapiro: Colorado, Ra y
Stanfurd, Andy Warren ; Idaho, George Stephens; Kansas, Marvin Schwill-
ing; Nebraska, Neil Dankert. Jim Reiser, Steve Spumer: New Mexico, Steve
Cary, Richard Holla nd; Nevada, George Austin; North Dakota, Ronald
Royer; Oklahoma, Pat Bergey, John Nelson; Oregon, Susan Anderson, Paul
Hammond; South Dakota, Gary Marrone; Texas, Charles Bordelon, Chuck
Sexton, Ru Wa uer; Utah, John Richards, Steve Sommerfeld, Todd Stout.
In addition, mOSt of these correspondcnts providc..=d information abollt
nectar sourceS in their areas that wa s used to compile the list of important
nectar sources that appears un page 8.
George Austin and Andy Warren kindly provided supplemen tary infor-
mation about the identification of greater fritillaries that should increase
your chance of successfu l identiricatioll.
A draft of this manuscript was reviewed by Jim Brock, Jim Mori, Jane V.
Scott, and Andy Warren, each of whom made many corrections and pro-
vided many suggestions tha t grea tly improved the fina l product. The rime,
effort, and knowledge that they brought to this project arc greatl y appre-
ciated.
Lastl y, [ would like to thank you, the reader, for lIsi ng this book. a step
that links you to the growing butterflying community. Join with us
on an exciting lifetime adventure that is earth-friend ly and good for YOll-
butterflying is fat-free and yet still full of flavor!
INTRODUCTION
WARNING: THIS BOOK IS AN EXPRESS VEHICLE TO BUTTER FLYING HEAVEN. If this
destination is not in your plans for this lifetime, you may want to turn back
now, before it is too late!
Why take up butterfl ying? Well. perhaps because of the benefits to your
health and beauty-and that of the p lanet's. BUllerflying will increase the
ti me you spend in beaut iful mountain meadows fi lled with flowers and
encourage you to hike in brea thtaki ng desert canyons in the springtime,
following floa ting patches of turq uoise-blue confections as they drift
across the f1owernl landscape. You'll look do wn to see a metalmark , glint -
ing in the sun, only to find an iridescent tiger beetle at your feet. You' ll look
up as the neeLari ng black and white Pine White you sta rtled springs heav-
enward, just in time to see the m ulticolored dragonfly tha t is chasing the
same butterfly as you! As you look for b utterflies you will learn the plants
whose flowers are important neCtar sources and you will learn some of the
major caterpilla r food plants, as an a id to locating the adu lt butterflies. In
short, you'll be well on your way to being a compleat naturalist.
Besides beingjust plain fu n, butterflying is rewa rding and important in
many ways. Since so much remains to be learned about these wonderful
animals, your knowledge of the butterflies of your area may make a con-
tribution to science- it's possible that you could even find a new species.
For example, the stun ning Sandia Hairstreak was discovered onl y in 1960,
despite be ing fa irly common in Big Bend Na tional Pa rk and in the hills just
outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico . Also, bUllerflying allows one to
monitor the lucal t:nvirUlllllt:n l. Knowledge of the stability. or decline or
increase, of local butterfly populations is an important tuol in environ -
mental protectiun. On a more personal level. butterflying serves as a stim-
ulus to go o utdoors and engage in healthy physical activity. Pa radoxicall y,
bUllerflying has the power to intensely excite and relax you a t the same
