Some more thoughts on state leaps
brian cassie
I have been thinking that we should try to involve people of all ages in the process of figuring out a state butterfly and (steady now) a state moth. Maybe we could get the major newspapers to run a story in their paper and online versions and have a link to the info on the leps under consideration and a place to vote.
New Jersey either has the IO Moth as its state moth or they have it in the legislative pipeline.
I think all of the species we consider should have a statewide distribution. Don't shoot the messenger but that leaves out the Great Spangled Fritillary, which is absent from several counties.
Keep sending in ideas and something will get put together, I am sure.
Brian Cassie, Foxboro ( home of the Pats and land of the leps)
Bruce deGraaf
Brian et al
If "statewide distribution" is a required qualification for consideration as the state butterfly, what butterflies are qualified and what is the reference source for distribution? I think that statewide distribution should be one of several criteria for consideration, with a weight and score for each versus a disqualification. With respect to statewide distribution, I fear we would be left with perhaps only a few candidates, such as Cabbage White, Clouded Sulfur and maybe Monarch which lately has been seen sparsely throughout the state. Plus even though a species may be seen in every county, it could be difficult to find it due to its habitat, size, etc.
Here are some criteria that I think might be included:
Statewide distribution
Ease of identification
Accessibility/easy to find
Overwinters in the state
Can be raised in captivity and released (grade school classes tend to do this)
Appealing/attractive
If we are going to open it up for voting, we need a fairly short list. If there are more than 2 candidates on the list, there's a good chance that none will get a majority of the votes so, in my opinion, we should consider having voters select a preference for each (first, second, third, etc.).
I would recommend sticking with the state butterfly this year with related activities linked to the Massachusetts Butterfly Club's 25 year anniversary.
Bruce deGraaf
Shrewsbury, MA
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donald adams
Bruce:
BRAVO: You ‘hit the nail on the head’! I especially liked your including on the list of criteria ability to do ‘raise-and-release’ which would greatly aid groups with an orientation on education (schools, nature centers, etc). In my view, this is the most important reason to have any ‘State Butterfly’ to begin with, although I do admit this could also limit the number of candidates.
Don Adams
Bruce deGraaf
Lucy et al,
The Checklist of the Butterflies of Massachusetts lists Great Spangled Fritillary as occurring Statewide, however, as Brian Cassie pointed out, there are pockets where it has not been or is rarely reported, including Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. I would recommend that the score/grade for the Distribution/Occurrence for candidate butterflies depend on how many towns it has been seen it rather than eliminating any particular “statewide” species, although a threshold of towns or counties could be used as a criteria for elimination. There are two online sources shown below that provide the occurrence for most butterflies (click to navigate to the site) although there may be additional club records that could also be used since:
Massachusetts Butterfly Atlas Website
Butterflies of Massachusetts Website (contains distribution for many, but not all butterflies, e.g. it has no information for Mourning Cloak)
In any case, the butterflies that are shown in the latest Checklist of the Butterflies of Massachusetts (Eric Nielson, 2015) as occurring statewide and overwintering (in any form) in Massachusetts needs to be paired down significantly since it contains the following 47 butterflies. The trailing notes indicate which species I think should be eliminated from consideration for the reason shown:
1. Black Swallowtail – selected by another state
2. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail – selected by another state
3. Spicebush Swallowtail
4. Cabbage White – not particularly notable/attractive
5. Clouded Sulfur
6. Orange Sulfur
7. American Copper
8. Coral Hairstreak – difficult for non butterfliers to find and ID
9. Edwards’ Hairstreak – difficult for non butterfliers to find and ID
10. Banded Hairstreak – difficult for non butterfliers to find and ID
11. Hickory Hairstreak – difficult for butterfliers to find and ID
12. Striped Hairstreak – difficult for non butterfliers to find and ID
13. Oak Hairstreak – difficult for butterfliers to find and ID
14. Brown Elfin – difficult for non butterfliers to find and ID
15. Eastern Pine Elfin – difficult for non butterfliers to find and ID
16. Gray Hairstreak
17. Eastern Tailed-Blue
18. Spring Azure – tiny & difficult to distinguish from the other Azures
19. Cherry Gall Azure – tiny & difficult to distinguish from the other Azures
20. Summer Azure – tiny & difficult to distinguish from the other Azures
21. Great Spangled Fritillary
22. Silver-bordered Fritillary
23. Pearl Crescent
24. Question Mark
25. Eastern Coma
26. Compton Tortoiseshell – statewide but uncommon to rare
27. Mourning Cloak – selected by another state
28. Red-spotted Admiral (Red-spotted Purple Form)
29. Viceroy – selected by another state
30. Little Wood-Satyr
31. Common Wood Nymph
32. Silver-spotted Skipper
33. Southern Cloudywing – difficult to ID, not particularly attractive to non-butterfliers
34. Northern Cloudywing – difficult to ID, not particularly attractive to non-butterfliers
35. Dreamy Duskywing – difficult to ID, not particularly attractive to non-butterfliers
36. Sleepy Duskywing – difficult to ID, not particularly attractive to non-butterfliers
37. Juvenal’s Duskywing – difficult to ID, not particularly attractive to non-butterfliers
38. Wild Indigo Duskywing – difficult to ID, not particularly attractive to non-butterfliers
39. Least Skipper
40. European Skipper – non-native/invasive
41. Leonard’s Skipper– very limited flight date
42. Crossline Skipper – difficult to ID, not particularly attractive to non-butterfliers
43. Long Dash – difficult to ID, not particularly attractive to non-butterfliers
44. Sachem – uncertain overwintering form, difficult for non butterfliers to find and ID
45. Broad-winged Skipper
46. Dun Skipper – difficult to ID, not particularly attractive to non-butterfliers
47. Dusted Skipper
I would like to suggest two (2) additional selection criteria that could be used in the selection process: Flight Period/Dates and Selected by Another State
Any and all comments, opinions, suggestions, and corrections anyone might have are appreciated.
Bruce deGraaf
Shrewsbury, MA
From: lucym...@comcast.net
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 10:50 AM
To: bruced...@gmail.com
Cc: bria...@aol.com; MassLep
Subject: Re: [MassLep] Some more thoughts on state leaps
Hi everyone,
According to the checklist of the Butterflies of Massachusetts, there are 63 butterflies which occur statewide, and of those, only 11 are not known to overwinter in Massachusetts.
Lucy Merrill-Hills
Roslindale, Ma
From: "Bruce deGraaf" <bruced...@gmail.com>
To: bria...@aol.com
Cc: "MassLep" <mas...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 8:53:29 AM
Subject: Re: [MassLep] Some more thoughts on state leaps
Brian et al
brian cassie
Sorry that the original message said state leaps.. That was the computer "correcting" me and I missed it. There will doubtless be others.
More random thoughts :
We have a state insect, the ladybug. As you doubtless know, the Bay State is inhabited by many species of ladybugs. But just plain ladybug it is for the state. So has this designation done anything for the ladybugs of the state?
If Mass. likes "ladybug" maybe it would like "azure."
If we really want a butterfly that is resident, widespread, common, flies from spring to fall, comes to gardens and wild meadows, is easy to find in egg and caterpillar form, and is easy to raise, I think we could hardly do better than Black Swallowtail.
I still think it would be great to push a combination of state butterfly and state moth. By the way, we have no state amphibian but that is for another group to ponder.
Brian Cassie
lucym...@comcast.net
To: bria...@aol.com
Cc: "MassLep" <mas...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 8:53:29 AM
Subject: Re: [MassLep] Some more thoughts on state leaps
AnneAReid
If 'raise & release' is an important criteria, then the black swallowtail might be one to consider. We ended up raising some many years ago after finding numerous caterpillars ("parsley worms") on our parsley, and since then have known friends who have found caterpillars and raised them with their kids. So it seems as if this could be relatively easy to do, with all the parsley and Queen Anne's lace that's around.
Plus these butterflies are big, beautiful, and easy to see in gardens and fields. They have multiple broods, overwinter here as pupae, and are interesting with the difference in appearance between males and females. As far as I could tell, only Oklahoma and now New Jersey (as of January 11, 2016) lists the black swallowtail as state butterfly.
http://www.ahherald.com/columns-list/old-oak-trail/21622-black-swallowtail-is-nj-state%E2%80%99s-butterfly
Annie Reid
brian cassie
Brian Cassie
madeline...@verizon.net
Subject: Re: [MassLep] Some more thoughts on state leaps
Hi everyone,
According to the checklist of the Butterflies of Massachusetts, there are 63 butterflies which occur statewide, and of those, only 11 are not known to overwinter in Massachusetts.
Lucy Merrill-Hills
Roslindale, Ma
From: "Bruce deGraaf" <bruced...@gmail.com>
To: bria...@aol.com
Cc: "MassLep" <mas...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 8:53:29 AM
donald adams
From: donald adams [mailto:banker...@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2016 12:08 AM
To: 'anne...@aol.com' <anne...@aol.com>
Subject: RE: [MassLep] Some more thoughts on state leaps
Anne/Brian/Bruce/ Madeline et al;
YES; the Black Swt is the best choice, in my view, for the raise & release attribute (after the Monarch which we’re not considering for other reasons). Especially early finds of Black Swt eggs/cats which will likely double/triple brood eclose in the same season they’re raised so tricky over-wintering isn’t an issue. Keeping chrysalides of the last brood over winter might require some advice from experienced club members but this is not a huge issue.