[TN-Butterflies] Re: Phaon Crescent and fogfruit verbena
- From: "Michael Lee Bierly" <mlbierly@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Tennessee Butterflies" <tn-butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:23:43 -0500
Since I finally got a Pearl Crescent for the year, I thought I would look
into the other crescent in Tennessee, the rare (at least in Tennessee) Phaon
Crescent. The Phaon Crescent is known in Tennessee from only four counties,
all in West Tennessee--Haywood, Lauderdale, Shelby, and Tipton. This makes
some sense as the species is in the mid plains though on the western side of
Arkansas and Missouri, the two states that border Tennessee on the west.
Because of occurrences on the western side of the two adjoining states,
records further east in Tennessee might be range limited. However, there is
a group of records in Alabama and scattered in Mississippi so Tennessee
should be in the mix, at least at times. The key here, as in most cases, is
the host plants, fogfruit verbena; Lance Leaf Fogfruit, Phyla lanceolata,
and mat grass, Lippia nodiflora. These species may not be familiar to all,
at least not to me. From the map below, you can see that Lance Leaf Fogfruit
occurs in 43 counties in Tennessee though how common is unknown to me, but
because of its occurrence the Phaon Crescent could be present. According to
BAMONA, the adults nectar from flowers of Lippia and composites including
shepherd's needle. So it seems to me that this species should folds its
wings in other Tennessee counties and now may be the time. No record for
this year yet, but Bart Jones had one in Shelby County in 2008 on July 6.
Maybe Bart and any others who have had the species in the state or elsewhere
can share some insight as to where they saw it, pointers for identification,
and timing.
Michael Lee Bierly, Nashville, Davidson County, TN
Tennessee Counties For Pearl Crescent
<http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/tmp/species/1740_47.png>
Lance Leaf Fogfruit (Phyla lanceolata)
<http://tenn.bio.utk.edu/vascular/atlasD/Dicots/Verbenaceae/Phyla-lanceolata
.gif>
Phaon Crescent (Phyciodes phaon)
<http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/tmp/species/1740.png>
Images of the plant, Lance Leaf Fogfruit,
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/phla3.htm.
Other related posts:
