[TN-Butterflies] the azure situation in tn and eastern north america--a case of the blues

Azures present a formidable problem for butterfliers these days, as
indicated by this passage pirated from the Spring Azure page of the
North Carolina Butterflies website:

 

Nearly identical to the Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta), which was
formerly lumped with them, these common butterflies [Spring
Azures-Celastrina "ladon"] don't fly during the summer. However, a small
number of Summer Azures do fly during the spring, so you can't assume
any spring azure is a Spring Azure. Spring Azures are very similar to
Summer Azures, but are slightly smaller and are more of a violet-blue
above.

 

Because of the i.d. difficulty that the spring season azures present,
Spring Azure can be added to the county butterfly list at BAMONA based
on specimens only (there are lots of old records in the system that
probably need to be purged).  Summer Azure can be added to a county list
based on photos obtained from June through the end of the flight period.

 

To err on the side of caution, I usually list spring sightings of azures
at my FOY page only as Azure sp., but I would be more than glad to hear
arguments as to why a given spring sighting should be treated as
referring to one or the other of these species, if information that I am
not aware of is out there, so please share such info if you have it.

 

David Wright has published some fine papers on the Celastrina situation
in eastern North American, but I am pretty sure that the whole problem
that the azures present has not yet been solved.  It is not even clear
yet as to how many species of azures there are in eastern North America.
"Spring Azure" may actually house several distinct species.

 

Good butterflying, Steve Stedman

Cookeville, Putnam County

Other related posts: