Marine Blue Butterflies (Leptotes marina)

Marine Blue Butterfly (Leptotes marina)

One of the more enjoyable aspects of gardening is watching the birds and animals that visit/live in your garden.  Butterflies are among the more popular visitors, and most gardens attract a few species.  But a garden filled with nectar-rich flowers and larval host plants can be alive with many species by mid-summer.  To learn more about butterfly gardening see: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2012/06/butterfly-gardens.html

Among the common butterflies visiting native ‘butterfly plants’ are the small species known as the Blue Butterflies.  There are many species of ‘Blues’ throughout the world.  They all are classed as Gossamer-winged Butterflies (Family Lycaenidae), a large group that includes around 40% of all butterfly species (over 5000 species in the Family). Some of the common types of butterflies in this family are the Blue, Copper, Azure and Hairstreak butterflies.  We introduced another Gossamer-wing, the Gray Hairstreak, last month: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2018/07/gray-hairstreak-butterfly-strymon.html

The Gossamer-winged butterflies are mostly small.  They have delicate wings that appear to shine with color.  In the case of the Blue Butterflies, the predominant color of the upper-side of the wings is a shimmery blue that varies with the light.  Gossamer-wings live in a wide range of habitats from deserts to tropical rain forests and wetlands.  And some are common visitors to home gardens.

The Blue Butterflies belong the sub-family Polyommatinae (the Blue Butterflies).  This sub-family has traditionally been a sort of catch-all for species of similar appearance.  So it’s difficult to tell how many species it actually contains (molecular taxonomy will one day sort this out).  Southern California genera currently included in the Polyommatinae are: Brephidium (Pygmy Blues), Celastrina (Azures), Euphilotes, Glaucopsyche, Hemiargus, Leptotes, Philotes, and Plebejus. 

The most widely known (and the rarest) of the local Blue Butterflies are the Palos Verdes and El Segundo Blues (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis and Euphilotes battoides allyni, respectively).  These two species have very limited geographic ranges (in Western Los Angeles County) and larval food sources.  Efforts to bring these two species back from the brink of extinction have been widely publicized.  Their story has become part of the restoration ecology lore.

Mesquite (Prosopis species): larval food for
 Marine Blue Butterfly (Leptotes marina)

The Marine Blue (Leptotes marina) is a far more common butterfly in S. California.  Its range extends from California and Arizona east to Texas and south to Central  America. [1]  It’s a fairly common small butterfly in S. California, living in Mesquite and Coastal Sage scrub, city gardens and agricultural areas where alfalfa is grown. In the Sonoran Desert, it’s commonly seen along riparian corridors, which contain mesquites or other plants in the bean family.  Because its larval foods are common, gardeners in S. California, Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado or Texas may see this butterfly in their home gardens.  Individuals occasionally stray further north, but they apparently don’t over-winter.

The species was named by Tryon Reakirt (1844 – ?) in 1868. Reakirt was a businessman but was really a lepidopterist at heart. [2]   He joined the Entomological Society of Philadelphia at the age of 19 and became an accomplished taxonomist.  Reakirt's Blue butterfly also honors Tryon Reakirt. 

Reakirt was particularly interested in butterflies of the tropics and the American Rockies, publishing nine articles in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia. He apparently was not a field collector and never visited the American Southwest. Ultimately, his business dealings failed (there were hints of corruption), and Reakirt fled to Peru in 1871.  For more on the little that’s known about this talented lepidopterist see reference 2, below.

Marine Blue Butterfly (Leptotes marina) is small

Like all the Blues, the Marine Blue is a rather small butterfly, with a wingspan ranging from 7/8 to 1 1/8 inches (2.2 - 2.9 cm). [3]  It flies with a rapid, erratic flight pattern, landing to feed or search for mates.   When perched, the wings are usually closed, making it difficult to see (or photograph) the upper wing surface.  The upper surface is an iridescent blue-purple with a hint of brown.  The males have pale brown and white markings on the upper wing surface; females are all blue-purple.  For good photos, see references 3 & 4, below.

Marine Blue Butterfly (Leptotes marina): underside

The undersurface is often the best distinguishing characteristic between the different Blues.  In the case of the Marine Blue, the underside has distinctive, wavy, tan and white bands that are reminiscent of ocean waves coming in to shore.  I’m not sure why the Marine Blue is called ‘Marine’, but suspect it’s because of the ‘waves’.  The underside also has a line of tan and white circles on the wing margins, and two larger, darker spots on the lower dorsal wing (see above).

Marine Blue Butterfly (Leptotes marina): nectaring on
Dune Buckwheat (Eriogonum parvifolium)

Adults nectar on whatever small flowers are blooming.  In our gardens, we most often see them on the native Buckwheats or plants in the Sunflower family.  They are also commonly seen around their larval food plants – the legumes (members of the Pea Family – Fagaceae).  So you may see them near the peas in your vegetable garden as well.  Common larval foods in S. California include the native Milkvetches (Astragalus species), Amorpha californica and fruticosa, Glycyrrhiza lepidota, native Lathyrus (wild pea) and Lotus species, and the non-native Wisterias, Plumbagos, Acacias, alfalfa and garden peas. In the desert, common host plants are the tree and shrubby legumes, including Mesquites (Prosopis species), Acacia greggii, Dalea purpurea and Lysiloma thornberi.

Amorpha fruticosa: larval food source for
 Marine Blue Butterfly (Leptotes marina)

 
Females lay their eggs on the flower buds of host plants. The eggs and young larvae are small and well camouflaged; you’ll have to really look for them. The larvae eat mainly the flowers and the seedpods.  For good photos of eggs, larval stages [4, 5].  For good advice on raising this butterfly see reference 5, below.

 

Marine Blues can be seen year-round in S. California and other warm places.  We see them most often in summer and fall in Mother Nature’s Backyard.  They are fun to observe and add to the interest of a garden.  But what role do they play in the garden ecosystem – and why should we be interested in attracting them?

All butterflies and their larvae provide protein for birds, wasps and other insect-eating species.  So Marine Blues certainly function as prey.  But do they also play a role as pollinators, particularly of the small-flowered species they seem to prefer? In fact, the answer has yet to be discovered.

Marine Blue Butterfly (Leptotes marina): note how hairy this species is.

Butterflies are thought to be minor pollinators for most plants.  Perhaps that’s why relatively little research has been done, except in the case of a few flowering plants.  But a good look at the smaller butterflies, like the Gossamer Wings and Skippers, makes us wonder.  These butterflies have relatively short legs (for butterflies), visit many flowers, and can be seen in large (aggregate) numbers, particularly in areas of the arid Southwest.  These butterflies are also conspicuously hairy, particularly on the underbody and around the face.  All these factors make us wonder if they are more important alternate pollinators than is often thought.

Good studies of pollinator activity are difficult to carry out.  They require time, patience, hard fieldwork and observation.  Probably the best studies document that pollen is actually carried by a pollinator.  Such studies require extreme magnification – at the level of the electron microscope.   As far as we can determine, few studies have focused on the Blues as pollinators.  We hope that some up-and-coming Southwestern lepidopterist will seize the opportunity, enlightening us on the role of the Blue butterflies as pollinators.  That would make a fantastic doctoral dissertation!

The Blue Butterflies also remind us that specialization – whether in nature, agriculture or business – carries with it a substantial risk.  The highly specialized El Segundo and Palos Verdes Blue Butterflies, with their limited larval food sources, are extremely vulnerable to habitat loss.  The more generalist Marine Blues, with their ability to utilize a range of native and non-native legumes, have lots more options.  The Marine Blue serves to remind us that flexibility can be a reasonable survival strategy in times of rapid change – like now.   

Marine Blue Butterfly (Leptotes marina):
Madrona Marsh Preserve, Torrance CA

 

See our other insect postings for more on common insect visitors to S. California gardens: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2016/07/insect-postings-mother-natures-backyard.html

 

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1.       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptotes_marina

2.       http://images.peabody.yale.edu/lepsoc/jls/1960s/1964/1964-18(4)211-Brown.pdf

3.       https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Leptotes-marina

4.       http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/lepidopt/lycaenid/marine.htm

5.       http://leps.thenalls.net/content2.php?ref=Species/Polyommatinae/marina/life/marina_life.htm

6.       http://www.raisingbutterflies.org/leptotes-marina/

 

 

 

We encourage your comments below.   If you have questions about butterflies or other gardening topics you can e-mail us at :  mothernaturesbackyard10@gmail.com

 

 

 

Mourning Cloak Butterfly – Nymphalis antiopa

Mourning Cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa): Mother Nature's Backyard

 

For the past two summers, the numbers and species of butterflies in S. California gardens have been abnormally low.  This year, with a wet winter easing the drought, many butterflies have returned.  We were particularly worried about the Mourning Cloak, a butterfly rarely sighted in our area in recent years.  We’re happy to report that the numbers of Nymphalis antiopa – in Preserves as well as gardens – are up again this summer in California.   The scientific name is pronounced nim-FAL-is  an-tee-OH-puh.

Growing up in S. California in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, Mourning Cloaks were a very common sight.  We searched for the more ‘exotic’ butterflies in our wanderings; Mourning Cloaks were hardly worth the effort.  Adulthood (and loss of butterfly habitat and numbers) have brought a new appreciation for these unique and beautiful insects.  We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) : perched on
 Purple sage, Redondo Beach, CA

 

Mourning Cloaks have a huge natural range.  They are common throughout N. America, Europe, north-central Asia and Mexico. They were first defined by Linnaeus in 1758 (yes, this butterfly is common in Scandinavia!) [1]. In Great Britain, these butterflies are called ‘Camberwell Beauties’; they do not over-winter there and must migrate from Scandinavia and the continent [1].  They are known as Mourning Cloaks in most of Europe and N. America [2] and are the Montana state butterfly.

Mourning Cloaks belong to the Brushfoot butterfly family.  The Nymphalidae include several local favorites: the Lorquin’s Admiral, the Common Buckeye, the Red Admiral, the Gulf Fritillary and the West Coast, Painted and American Lady butterflies.  Our gardens would be far less interesting without the Brushfoots.    They are relatively large, brightly colored and fun to watch.

 

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) : on Grindelia hisutula

 

Nymphalis antiopa is a medium-large butterfly, with a wingspan of 2 ¼ to 4 inches (6-10 cm.).  Mourning cloaks are the only large, dark brown butterfly in local gardens; the Metalmarks and Duskywings (also brown) are much smaller.   Males and females look basically the same.

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) : underside

 

Mourning Cloak : excellent camouflage

 

The undersides of both sets of wings are a dark, rough-appearing brown, edged with light tan.  The wing margins are not smooth, but jagged.  All of this provides good camouflage in a variety of situations.  Mourning cloaks can virtually disappear on the dark trunks of trees.  But they are equally able to blend in when perched on local shrubs (see above).   They are particularly difficult to spot in the light and shadow of some of our native plants.   This is a good thing: camouflage is an important way Mourning Cloaks evade predatory insects (dragonflies), birds, lizards and others.

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) : upperside

 

In contrast to the lower side, the upper side of this species is very attractive and colorful.  The main wing color is a rich chocolate or mahogany brown.  The margins are banded with light tan-yellow, a nice contrast with the brown.  The pale margins are bordered inside by a darker brown band, dotted with pale, iridescent blue-lavender spots.  The entire effect is lovely and refined.   This butterfly’s common name is said to describe the butterfly’s appearance: a dark mourning cloak, covering a pale dress or petticoat [2].  



Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) : note body features

 

But the visual treats don’t stop there.  Look carefully at the close-up above.  Admire the compound eye; no wonder they’re so hard to sneak up on!   Note the stout legs, used to grasp and move around a perch. Photographs allow you to fully appreciate an insect’s intricate beauty. Nymphalis antiopa appears to have only two sets of legs.  But look closely to see the short, hairy front leg.  This ‘brush foot’ gives the Nymphalidae their common name – Brush-foot butterflies.

Notice the stout facial and thorax (mid-section) bristles and the unusual face shape.   Mourning cloak adults have an unusual diet for butterflies: for the most part they eat sap and decaying fruit, although they will visit early-blooming trees (like willows) or summer-fall blooming members of the Sunflower family [4]. Like other butterflies, they extract salts and minerals from mud.  Not surprisingly, Morning Cloaks are not an important pollinator species.

Adult Mourning Cloaks over-winter as adults.  The Mourning Cloak season begins with the emergence of adults from hibernation in the spring.  In the warm winters of S. California, emergence can be as early as January; you can see this butterfly in any month in local preserves and gardens.  But they are most frequently spotted in spring and late summer/fall.   Adults live up to 12 months – one of the longest lifespans of any N. American butterfly [2, 5].

Willows (Salix species) : larval food for
 Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)

 

Nymphalis antiopa is native to forests and woodland areas.  But it can be found where ever there are trees that supply its larval food, including local wetlands, riparian woodlands, parks and neighborhoods.  Larval food trees include willows (Salix species), aspens and cottonwoods (Populus species), American elm (Ulmus), hackberry (Celtis spp.), hawthorn, wild rose, mulberry, birches (Betula species) and alders (Alnus species).   The frequent occurrence of these host species explains the widespread appearance of Mourning Cloaks in wild and urban settings.

Morning cloaks mate in the spring, but there may be multiple broods (a second generation) in some areas, including S. California [3, 4].  Males choose a high perch to display to passing females or fly in search of mates.  Males mate with several females, and there is strong competition for choice sites.  For more details on courtship behaviors see references 2, 3. 

 

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) : perched male

 

The males are highly territorial and will fiercely defend their territory from other males, other butterflies (including the large Swallowtails), hummingbirds and even humans.  We’ve seen them harass Scrub Jays and even had one head-butt our hand.  That’s quite a butterfly – willing to take on a human!

After an aerial mating, females lay a cluster of eggs around a host plant twig.  Clusters contain small eggs that start pale yellow-green and mature to black (see reference 6 for a good picture).   The female dies after laying her last batch of eggs. 

The larvae emerge after about 10 days, and will go through five larval stages (instars) before emerging as fully developed caterpillars.  Each instar but the first  (which is pale, with a dark head) looks fairly similar: a spiny, dark caterpillar with a line of red dots down the back.  The larvae have a distinct appearance: see reference 4 for excellent photos of all stages of development.

The larvae often remain together through much of their development.  Like all caterpillars, they are voracious eaters. They must be, to grow from a tiny egg to nearly 2 inches long (5^th instar). They’ve been known to defoliate ornamental trees in other areas, but we haven’t heard of this in S. California.  Let us know if you’ve seen this in S. California.  For more on larval behavior see reference 3, below.

After the 5^th molting, the Mourning Cloak caterpillar pupates (metamorphoses into adult form). The caterpillar leaves the host plant to search out a safe place to form a chrysalis, often under an overhang, large branch or other protected site (see ref. 4 for photos).  After a 10-15 day development within the chrysalis, the adult emerges.  In warm areas, adults enter a hibernation-like state (estivation) in the hottest part of summer, allowing them to survive the heat. 

Mourning Cloaks are not long-distance migrants, although they may migrate locally in California, from lower elevation winter sites to higher elevation breeding sites [7].  Adults over-winter in protected sites like tree cavities, under loose bark, among dried leaves or other sheltered places.  They emerge from winter hibernation with the warm weather.

We hope you’ll look for Mourning Cloaks in your own neighborhood. You likely will find them this year.  Look for the larvae as well as adults, if you’re lucky enough to have the host plants.  And send your photos to iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/home).   We’re sure there’s a scientist interested in studying the yearly fluctuations in butterfly numbers.  Your pictures can help provide the data s/he needs to conduct their study.

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) : in garden

 

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1. http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?species=antiopa
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphalis_antiopa  
3. http://www.naturenorth.com/spring/bug/mcloak/Fmcloak.html
4. http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/lepidopt/nymph/mcloak.htm    
5. http://www.desertusa.com/insects/mourning-cloaks.html
6. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/10920101
7. http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/butterfly/Nymphalis/antiopa  

 

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Like this posting?  See our other insect posts at: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2016/07/insect-postings-mother-natures-backyard.html

 

 

We encourage your comments below.   If you have questions about the Mourning Cloak butterfly or other gardening topics you can e-mail us at :  mothernaturesbackyard10@gmail.com

Flame Skimmer Dragonfly – Libellula saturata

Flame Skimmer - Libellula saturata (female): perched, hunting

The warm weather of late spring brings many interesting insects to S. California gardens.  Among the most fascinating are the dragonflies.  From May through fall, dragonflies may be seen in any garden providing insects for them to eat.  One of the more common – at least in western Los Angeles County - is the Flame Skimmer, Libellula saturata.  The scientific name for this species is pronounced lie-BELL-you-luh  sat-you-RAY-tuh.

Dragonflies and the closely-related damselflies are carnivorous insects in the order Odonata.  The odonates are an ancient group of insects: fossil dragonflies are  documented from well before the time of the dinosaurs (early ancestors from the Carboniferous Period).  At that time, some odonates were huge, with wingspans several feet wide.  Today’s dragonflies are smaller, but still have some of the prehistoric characteristics that make them ‘living fossils’.

Dragonflies have several notable characteristics.  First they have relatively large heads, equipped with large, compound eyes.  In fact, dragonfly vision is among the best in the world.  Dragonflies also have two sets of elongated wings, which allow them to maneuver in flight in astounding ways.

Like many insects, dragonflies go through several developmental stages before reaching adulthood.  True to their ancient lineage, the juvenile forms (nymphs) are aquatic or semi-aquatic.  Eggs are laid in water, on vegetation near water or in other moist places.  That’s why dragonflies are commonly seen around ponds, pools, marshes and slow-moving streams.   If you have dragonflies in your garden, there likely is a water source nearby.

Flame Skimmers (Libellula saturata) and Neon Skimmers:
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Claremont CA

 

Flame skimmers are among the larger local dragonflies.  They belong to the family Libellulidae – the Skimmers – the largest dragonfly family, with over 1000 species.  This family includes dragonflies that hunt for prey while flying, as well as those who perch and wait for prey.  The Flame skimmer is one of the latter, making it relatively easy to photograph. 

Flame Skimmers are native to western U.S. from ID and WY to California, TX and northern Mexico.  Adults range in size from 2-3 inches (5-7.5 cm) long.  The males are entirely bright orange, including their body, eye, legs and wings.  We don’t have good photographs of a male, but recommend the excellent images from references 1 and 2, below.     The only local species that are remotely similar are the Neon Skimmer (more brilliant red in color) and the Cardinal Meadowhawk (usually only seen in the mountains in our area).

Flame Skimmer - Libellula saturata (female):

 

Females (above) are a lighter, browner orange (or even brown) with yellow markings.  Their wings have less of an orange tint than do the males (male wings are orange to ½ their width).  The females also have a conspicuous swelling on the 7^th section of their abdomen (see arrow on photo above).

Adults will eat almost any soft-bodied flying insect including mosquitoes, flies, butterflies, moths, mayflies, and flying ants or termites.  In short, they are good natural pest control agents – although they also eat butterflies and other pollinators. Flame Skimmers hunt by perching on a rock or upright branch to wait for prey. They’re always on the alert for big, scary creatures (like you), as well as their next meal.  They then dart out to catch the hapless insect.  Watching them hunt is fascinating! 

Flame Skimmers lay their eggs in warm water.  That’s why they are often seen near shallow ponds, lakes, slow-moving streams, warm marshes and even hot springs.     Males are often seen cruising such site, which they defend from other males. The adults mate during the primary flight season (May-September). After mating, females lay their eggs by dipping their abdomens into the water, releasing the eggs.

Flame Skimmer - Libellula saturata (female): this species
 perches to hunt

 

The immature nymphs (naiads) live in mud on the bottom of warm ponds, streams, and springs. Like the adults, they wait for their prey to pass by, affording them protection from other predators.   The nymphs become quite large (over 1 inch (28 mm) long) and look like a stocky, hairy insect, with a rounded abdomen.  We don’t have any naiad photos, but recommend those in references 3 and 4, below.   If you run into them when cleaning your pond, just release them back into the mud.

Naiads feed on a wide variety of aquatic insects, such as mosquito larvae, other aquatic fly larvae, mayfly larvae, and freshwater shrimp. They will also eat small fish and tadpoles.   When mature, the adults emerge at night.

Flame Skimmers (Libellula saturata; males) perched and Neon Skimmers (flying):
 Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Claremont CA

 

Watch for these colorful dragonflies in your summer garden.  Try to get some good pictures, and upload them to the iNaturalist site (https://www.inaturalist.org/).  If you have a pond, you might even be lucky enough to see a nymph!

 

Like this posting?  See our other insect posts at: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2016/07/insect-postings-mother-natures-backyard.html

 

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1.   http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/odonata/Flame.htm

2.   https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47817-Libellula-saturata/browse_photos

3.   http://midge.cfans.umn.edu/order-odonata/family-libellulidae

4.   http://bugguide.net/node/view/272092/bgimage

 

We encourage your comments below.   If you have questions about Duskywing butterflies or other gardening topics you can e-mail us at :  mothernaturesbackyard10@gmail.com