Worcester County Elfin Hunt ... Bog & Pine Elfins

[Bruce deGraaf]

Garry Kessler, Annie Reid, and I conducted an Elfin hunt in Worcester County today.  We first stopped in Petersham hoping to find a Bog Elfin and in fact we thought we had ... until we got home and reviewed the photos.  

Our next stop was at another site in northern Worcester County, we found a Bog Elfin in the same spot where a group of us, including Tom Murray, Greg Dysart and others, saw one last year.

I posted a gallery containing 5 photos from the outing, all of different Elfins including the Bog and a variety of different Pine Elfins.  A couple of the Pine Elfins have markings similar to those on Western Pine Elfins.

I would appreciate any comments anyone might have regarding the IDs of these butterflies.

http://brucedegraaf.zenfolio.com/p647890857

Bruce deGraaf

Shrewsbury, MA

[Garry Kessler]

The markings on the pine elfins were quite variable. I've yet to go through those, so haven't yet posted photos for them.

The other side of the suspected bog elfin had a damaged hind wind. 

http://garrykessler.zenfolio.com/p862720637/h5fec912a#h5fec9122

Looking at the color of the the dorsal side through the damage, I'm wondering if this is a female.

Garry Kessler

Westborough, MA

[FSM...@aol.com]

Hi Bruce,

 

And provisional congratulations.

 

Your second pine elfin is marked mighty close to a western. You should probably get it "expertized" but, in the end, I think the call will be eastern.

 

The markings on your bog are sufficiently disturbed that I would hesitate to say for sure, but the "disorganized" nature of the bands is a good sign. How big was it? Bogies are half the size of pines [in the linear dimensions - that means about 1/8 in terms of volume]. Also, bogies exhibit much slower, weaker flight than pines. If those two characters line up, I'd go along with bog.

 

Sounds like you had a nice trip in any case.

 

Cheers,

Frank

[Matthew Arey]

Bruce,

That appears to me to be an aberrant Eastern Pine Elfin. They do indeed occur and have even fooled me in the past.
Western Pine Elfin: Not a chance in Massachusetts. They only occur in the far north in boreal Canadian Zone habitats and they are not always associated with bogs. I have had experience with them in northern Maine and this does not necessarily have the markings for Western Pine. Maine N. eryphon are very red in comparison to Eastern Pine and the HW will have sharply pointed submarginal crescents.

M. Arey

---

From: "FSM...@aol.com" <FSM...@aol.com>
To: bruced...@gmail.com; mas...@googlegroups.com
Cc: gkess...@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2013 7:38 PM
Subject: Re: [MassLep] Worcester County Elfin Hunt ... Bog & Pine Elfins

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[Sharon Stichter]

Hi Bruce and Garry,

 

The  photos which each of you posted from the second site certainly look like a Bog Elfin to me, and I'm treating it as such unless someone convinces me otherwise.  The markings -- more frosting than E Pine on ventral HW,, and vaguer, fuzzier ventral markings overall ----  seem quite characteristic.  But the label you have on it right now isn't correct; it's not irus, it is Callophrys lanoraieensis.

 

I've updated my species account on the basis of your find and earlier sight reports by Tom Murray. I've also included links to each of your photos, so please let me know if the links change:

 

http://www.butterfliesofmassachusetts.net/bog%20elfin.htm    

 

Great find --- Congratulations and thanks!

 

Sharon

 

Sharon Stichter

Butterflies of Massachusetts

 

[Bruce deGraaf]

Hi Frank,

Thanks for you input.  Regarding its size, it seemed quite small.  I think that your comment about them being half the size of Pine Elfins might be true in some circumstances when comparing the extremes of both species, but not in all cases.  According to BAMONA, the wingspans of Eastern Pine Elfins range from 25mm to 32mm and Bog Elfins from 22mm to 24mm.  This would seem to indicate that the Bog Elfins are consistently smaller than Pines but that Pines have a greater variability that almost overlaps that of Bogs.  The Pine Elfins that we encountered yesterday at Tom Swamp, seemed to be on the small side, leading us to think they might be Bog Elfins.  The Bog Elfin in the photo I posted, that we saw in northern Worcester County, seemed much smaller than the Spring Azures that were prevalent in the area, which have wingspans in the 22mm to 35mm range.

As for its flight characteristics, I didn't notice any difference between it and the Pine Elfins that we encountered -- but I only saw it flying for a few seconds.

I think that the area where we found it in is significant as to its ID --  next to a Black Spruce / Tamarack Bog.  The Elfin was in the exact location where Tom Murray, Greg Dysart and I saw one last year -- in front of a very health Black Spruce tree that had lots of new growth on its branch tips.  It perched on the branch where I took the photo for at most 5 seconds before it few up into the Black Spruce where we lost it.

Bruce

[Bruce deGraaf]

Matt,

Thanks for the assessment.  As I stated in my response to Frank Model, I think that the area where we found it in is significant as to its ID --  next to a Black Spruce / Tamarack Bog.  The Elfin was in the exact location where Tom Murray, Greg Dysart and I saw one last year -- in front of a very health Black Spruce tree that had lots of new growth on its branch tips.  It perched on the branch where I took the photo for less than  5 seconds before it few up into the Black Spruce where we lost it.  Additionally, Tom Murray photographed a Bog Elfin at this same location on 5/26/2008.  

I understand the variability of Eastern Pine Elfins and agree that other photos are of Eastern vs. Western Pine Elfins.  However, the aberrations for this butterfly are consistent with Bog Elfin characteristics.  In my opinion, considering both its location and marking, its seems Bog Elfin is the correct ID.

Bruce

[FSM...@aol.com]

That's pretty convincing.

 

In a message dated 5/19/2013 11:13:41 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, bruced...@gmail.com writes:

I think that the area where we found it in is significant as to its ID --  next to a Black Spruce / Tamarack Bog.  The Elfin was in the exact location where Tom Murray, Greg Dysart and I saw one last year -- in front of a very health Black Spruce tree that had lots of new growth on its branch tips.  It perched on the branch where I took the photo for at most 5 seconds before it few up into the Black Spruce where we lost it.

[Alex Grkovich]

Bruce,

 

There is another reason for all this Eastern Pine Elfin variability in Massachusetts that probably needs to be considered: We here are right in the border or tension zone between the larger and darker (and more sharply marked) nominate subspecies which ranges south into North Carolina, and the smaller and redder/grayer northern subspecies clarki, which ranges north into the Canadian Zone. It was even suspected that an undescribed Pine Elfin species was discovered about 9 years ago in northwestern Maine (in red pine habitat) but the discoverer rather quickly reversed his mind on it and concluded it was "variability" involved in his specimens. Regardless, there is a lot of variability in our area here within this species...And Eastern Pine (clarkia) males can be quite small - not much larger than Bog Elfins - at least in central Maine and northward... 

 

As far as finding Western Pine Elfin (eryphon) in northern Massachusetts, keep looking - but good luck in finding it; eryphon - at least in the East - is a northern Boreal species occurring in and around Canadian Zone bogs and in adjacent pine forests. It has not been found south of Wilsons Mills, Maine and north of Sugarloaf Mountain. It also occurs northwest of Baxter State Park. A number of years ago, the US Forest Service asked me to look for it in north-central New Hampshire, south of Errol; a brief search of course did not turn it up - I found only clarki. It also flies (and peaks) a bit earlier than clarki.

 

Alex Grkovich

From: Bruce deGraaf <bruced...@gmail.com>
To: Matthew Arey <mothm...@yahoo.com>
Cc: "fsm...@aol.com" <fsm...@aol.com>; "mas...@googlegroups.com" <mas...@googlegroups.com>; "gkess...@aol.com" <gkess...@aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2013 11:44 AM
Subject: Re: [MassLep] Worcester County Elfin Hunt ... Bog & Pine Elfins

Matt,

Thanks for the assessment.  As I stated in my response to Frank Model, I think that the area where we found it in is significant as to its ID --  next to a Black Spruce / Tamarack Bog.  The Elfin was in the exact location where Tom Murray, Greg Dysart and I saw one last year -- in front of a very health Black Spruce tree that had lots of new growth on its branch tips.  It perched on the branch where I took the photo for less than  5 seconds before it few up into the Black Spruce where we lost it.  Additionally, Tom Murray photographed a Bog Elfin at this same location on 5/26/2008.  

I understand the variability of Eastern Pine Elfins and agree that other photos are of Eastern vs. Western Pine Elfins.  However, the aberrations for this butterfly are consistent with Bog Elfin characteristics.  In my opinion, considering both its location and marking, its seems Bog Elfin is the correct ID.

Bruce

On Sat, May 18, 2013 at 8:15 PM, Matthew Arey <mothm...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Bruce,

That appears to me to be an aberrant Eastern Pine Elfin. They do indeed occur and have even fooled me in the past.
Western Pine Elfin: Not a chance in Massachusetts. They only occur in the far north in boreal Canadian Zone habitats and they are not always associated with bogs. I have had experience with them in northern Maine and this does not necessarily have the markings for Western Pine. Maine N. eryphon are very red in comparison to Eastern Pine and the HW will have sharply pointed submarginal crescents.

M. Arey