Are new Sub-Tropical Butterflies Residing in Southern California?
1. In 1992, we had an invasion of the sub-tropical giant swallowtail (Heraclides cresphontes). The butterfly ignited news broadcasts and front page stories in local newspapers. It came from the south and southeast and has remained a resident.
2. The sub-tropical orane-barred sulfur (Phoebis philea) has been a resident in Southern California since 2004. However, their flight period in 2007 has been sparse. Only one larva was collected on Cassia didymobotrya in mid-August at our facility in Encinitas, CA and it emerged as an albinic (white) female. Adults have not been reported recently.
3. A new sub-tropical butterfly to this area was spotted in the early afternoon in Del Mar, California on 31 July, 2007 (32° 56.734′ N – 117° 15.305′ W at 380’ elev.). Three people viewed a red-spotted purple butterfly (Limenitis arthemis arizonensis) sipping nectar from a decaying nectarine fruit. It was also seen chasing a mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa). Adult Limenitis feed on sap, fruit, flower nectar, decaying wood, dung, and carrion. Male adults patrol all day near the host plants (usually willow, Salicaceae). There are previous recordings of the red-spotted purple butterfly from Southeast California near the Arizona border. This information is available on www.butterfliesandmoths.org. Otherwise, no records are known from west of this area.
One of the three people that viewed the butterfly identified it from the specimen shown in the photograph. She is a butterfly gardener and has reared many native species. She claimed it was not a pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) because she has reared the species. The red-spotted purple is a Batesian mimic of the poisonous pipevine swallowtail. “This one did not have tails. It was smaller, had darker forewings along the edge, with iridescent blue on the hindwings, like a morpho butterfly. It reminded me of being in the tropics,” she said.
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A Red-Spotted Purple butterfly (Limenitis arthemis arizonensis) specimen
collected by Mark Walker in Garden Canyon, Cochise County, AZ on July 23rd, 2001 (Click the image for a larger view.)