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Home , Asterocampa celtis, Asterocampa clyton, Atrytone arogos, Calpodes, Calpodes ethlius, Duskywing

Conservation of the Arogos , arogos arogos (: Hesperiidae) in Marc C. Minno St. Johns River Water Management District P.O. Box 1429, Palatka, FL 32177 [email protected] Maria Minno Eco-Cognizant, Inc., 600 NW 35th Terrace, Gainesville, FL 32607 [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The Arogos skipper is a rare and declining found in native grassland habitats in the eastern and mid- western United States. Five distinct populations of the butterfly occur in specific parts of the range. arogos once occurred from southern South Carolina through eastern and peninsular Florida as far south as Miami. This butterfly is currently thought to be extirpated from South Carolina and Georgia. The six known sites in Florida for A. arogos arogos are public lands with dry prairie or longleaf pine savanna having an abundance of the larval host grass, Sorghastrum secundum. Colonies of the butterfly are threat- ened by catastrophic events such as wild fires, land management activities or no management, and the loss of genetic integrity. The dry prairie preserves of central Florida will be especially important to the recovery of the butterfly, since these are some of the largest and last remaining grasslands in the state. It may be possible to create new colonies of the Arogos skipper by releasing wild-caught females or captive-bred individuals into currently unoccupied areas of high quality habitat.

INTRODUCTION tered colonies were found in , North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and . The three re- gions where the butterfly was most abundant included The Arogos skipper (Atrytone arogos) is a very locally the New Jersey pine barrens, peninsular Florida, and distributed butterfly that occurs only in the eastern and southeastern Mississippi. From 2001 through 2003, USF- midwestern U. S. Most of the eastern colonies lie within WS funded us to search for the Arogos skipper in the a few hundred km of the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mex- southeastern U.S. and to investigate the biology of the ico. This butterfly was first mentioned in a book about butterfly. This paper presents the results of our observa- the and moths of Georgia (Abbot and Smith tions on Atrytone arogos arogos. 1797), but the authors misidentified it as Papilio vitellius, a tropical that had been illustrated by Fabricius in 1793. The first valid name for the Arogos skipper is METHODS arogos (Boisduval and Le Conte 1834). The orig- inal description was based on paintings made by John Abbot who lived in Burke County, Georgia from 1776 to We looked for the Arogos skipper in eastern Louisi- about 1800. According to Harris (1972) Abbot wrote ana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, Florida, “This species has been found only in the pine woods on southern and eastern Georgia, and southern South the north side of Briar Creek, near Mill Town planta- Carolina. For surveys on public land or Nature Conser- tion.” Harris also noted that Mill Town Plantation is now vancy holdings, land managers were contacted for per- known as Millhaven Plantation. The type locality was giv- mission to look for the Arogos skipper and for advice in en as , but John Abbot’s notes limited the locating habitat. At other times we searched highways area to Screven County, Georgia (Miller and Brown for powerline crossings or bordering areas with poten- 1981). Scudder (1869) described Hesperia from tial habitat. Other lepidopterists were also contacted for specimens collected in prairie habitat near Denison, Io- information on the Arogos skipper. The atlases pub- wa. In 1872 he revised the classification of some North lished by the DeLorme Company (1998a, b, c, d, 2000a, American skippers and renamed Hesperia iowa as Atry- b) were especially useful for planning surveys, since tone iowa (Scudder 1872a). It wasn’t until 1921 that these maps have latitude/longitude grids and show Lindsey placed the typical Arogos skipper in the many features of topographic maps, including roads, Atrytone, and 1951 that Klots recognized Atrytone iowa as major power lines, and natural areas. Our surveys were a race of Atrytone arogos. mostly conducted during the adult flight season from From 1994 to 1998 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service April through October. We searched for adults, espe- (USFWS) funded surveys to find populations of the Arog- cially at flowers, as well as for immature stages on the lar- os skipper in the eastern U.S. (Hall 1999). Widely scat- val host grasses.

Land of Fire and Water: The Florida Dry Prairie Ecosystem. Proceedings of the Florida Dry Prairie Conference. Reed F. Noss, editor. 2006.

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RESULTS and females readily visit flowers for and become al- most docile, to the point where they can be touched, while feeding. Flowers visited by the adults include pur- We have identified five distinct populations of the ple thistle (Cirsium horridulum) in the Asteraceae (H. D. Arogos skipper that differ in adult phenotype, host plant, Baggett, personal communication) and redroot (Lach- and habitat. Only two of these populations have been de- nanthes caroliniana) in the Haemodoraceae. scribed and named. Atrytone arogos arogos (Boisduval and Atrytone arogos arogos has three generations per year Le Conte 1834) once occurred from southern South with adults flying mostly in April-May, June-July, and Au- Carolina to southern Florida. Currently, A. arogos arogos is gust-September, but the timing of the generations is not known to survive only in peninsular Florida. Colonies well synchronized and there is considerable year-to-year have been identified in Clay, Duval, Highlands, variability. Adults have been reported between these Okeechobee, Osceola, Pasco, Polk, and possibly Citrus dates: March 10, April 16-29, May 7-30, June 14-29, July 5- counties, Florida. In the past this butterfly has also been 31, August 1-30, September 1-30, and October 6-18 in reported from Alachua, Brevard, Hillsborough, Indian Florida; for May 17-19, June 2, and August 2-12 in Geor- River, Levy, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pinel- gia; and for May 21, June 12-19, and August 19-26 in las, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, and Volusia counties, South Carolina (Hall 1999 and our observations). We Florida (Minno 1994a); Screven County, Georgia (Harris have found adults to be most abundant and reliably 1972); and Aiken and Richland counties, South Carolina present from mid-August to mid-September. (Hall 1999), but has not been found at any of these loca- The population size of the most robust colonies ap- tions in recent times. pears to be, at most, a few hundred individuals per year. Unlike other races of the Arogos Skipper, the females Usually only a few adults are seen per day at any particular of A. arogos arogos are nearly black on the uppersides of colony. Atrytone arogos arogos was locally common at Ocala the forewings. On the males (Fig. 1), the veins in the yel- National Forest near Lake Delancy in Marion County and low patch on the uppersides of the forewings are partly near Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Citrus outlined in black. County, Florida during the mid-1990s, where ten or more Atrytone arogos arogos occurs in savannas, dry prairies, adults could be seen per day. Unfortunately, these colo- and occasionally longleaf pine sandhills where the larval nies are no longer extant. host plant is abundant. Adults are only active during the Scudder (1872b) published the brief hand-written day when the sun is visible. When the sun becomes ob- notes that Abbot had made on his butterfly paintings. Un- scured by clouds, the adults leave flowers and perch on der the name “Vitellius” he cites “Caterpillar of a pale low vegetation. Males both perch and patrol in areas with brown-greenish colour; feeds on buffalo-grass; spun July high densities of the larval host grass in order to find fe- 25, chrysalis July 27, from which the imago Aug. 4; not males. The flight is very fast and low to the ground. Males common.” According to Harris (1972) Abbot and Smith (1797) wrote of the Arogos skipper: “Feeds on the panic- grass figured, and on the buffalo-grass, at length folding the leaves together for protection. It spun itself up July 25, changed 27th, came forth in its winged state August 4.” Minno (1994a) determined that the caterpillars of A. arog- os arogos feed on lopsided indiangrass (Sorghastrum secun- dum) in peninsular Florida. The immature stages of A. arogos arogos were described by Minno (1994b). We be- lieve that Abbot and Smith’s (1797) reference to “panic- grass” ( species) was in error and that “buffalo- grass” is Sorghastrum secundum because we have only found A. arogos arogos in association with lopsided indiangrass. The only known extant colonies of A. arogos arogos are at Branan Field Gopher Tortoise Mitigation Park in Du- val County; Jennings State Forest in Clay County; Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park in Pasco County; Avon Park Air Force Range in Highlands and Polk counties; Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park in Okeechobee County1; and the Disney Wilderness Preserve, Bull Creek Wildlife Man- agement Area, and Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area in Osceola County, Florida. Only single individuals have been observed at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park and the Disney Wilderness Preserve after several years of butterfly surveys in areas with hundreds of acres of potential habitat (Buck and Linda Cooper, personal communication). A sighting was also made recently in

Editor’s note: A list of the butterflies of Kissimmee Prairie Preserve Figure 1. A male Atrytone arogos arogos from Duval County, Florida State Park (Cooper and Cooper 2004) is included as an appendix to this near Orange Park. paper.

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Citrus County along U.S. Highway 19 near Chassahowitz- nance. Other threats to A. arogos arogos include cata- ka National Wildlife Refuge (Andy Anderson, personal strophic events such as tornados and hurricanes that may communication). A colony of the Arogos skipper had impact some colonies, and the loss of genetic integrity been present along U.S. Highway 19 just north of the in- due to the isolated distribution and very low abundance tersection with U. S. Highway 98 during in the mid 1990s, of the existing populations. but none have been seen at this site since the late 1990s. We predict that A. arogos arogos will become extinct in the near future, unless a management plan focused on in- creasing its abundance is written and implemented. The DISCUSSION butterfly needs to be monitored on a regular basis at the few remaining colonies in order to better understand its The Arogos skipper is an extremely rare and declin- population dynamics and biology. Why is it so rare even ing butterfly in the eastern United States. We found very in natural areas such as Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State little remaining habitat and no colonies of the Arogos Park, where there are hundreds of acres of high quality skipper in Georgia. Much of the landscape in Georgia has habitat with an abundance of larval host plants? Dry prai- been converted to agriculture, silviculture, or urban uses. rie habitat will play a major role in saving the butterfly, The southwestern part of the state most likely had colo- since natural areas such as Myakka State Park, Avon Park nies of the Ctenium aromaticum-feeding Gulf Coast popu- Air Force Range, Kissimmee State Park, and other exist- lation, while the eastern half of Georgia was home to the ing and restored prairies in central Florida are some of Sorghastrum secundum-feeding Atrytone arogos arogos. Al- the largest remaining grasslands in the state. By transfer- though we searched in Screven County, where John Ab- ring wild-caught females or releasing captive bred indi- bot originally found the butterfly, we did not find any viduals into suitable habitat it may be possible to create suitable habitat. The Arogos skipper may eventually be new colonies or bolster existing colonies. found at Fort Stewart near Hinesville with further surveys. In summary, Atrytone arogos arogos is an imperiled but- There are many hundreds of acres of high quality habitat terfly. We recommend that the following actions be un- at Fort Stewart, but we could not find any signs of the dertaken as soon as possible: 1) develop and implement skipper. Tiny remnants of potential habitat also occur at a management plan for existing colonies, 2) perform an- Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the Nature Con- nual status surveys, 3) conduct captive rearing studies, servancy’s Broxton Rocks Preserve, and a few private par- and 4) conduct experiments aimed at creating new colo- cels near Kingsland and St. George. nies on public lands with high-quality habitat. These mea- Southern South Carolina was similar to Georgia in sures will help insure that the butterfly will continue to that most of the natural landscape has been altered. survive. There are a few areas with lopsided indiangrass at the Sa- vannah River Site in Aiken County, but they were poor quality, and we did not find the butterfly. Nick Haddad of ACKNOWLEDGMENTS North Carolina State University has spent several years surveying for butterflies in powerline corridors at Savan- nah River Site, but has not found the Arogos skipper We greatly appreciate the help of following people: (personal communication). The Arogos Skipper was last L. G. Adams (Weeks Bay National Estuaries Research observed in South Carolina at Aiken State Park, but the Reserve), S. Brown Aicher (Okefenokee National Wild- park is currently overgrown with trees and shrubs, and we life Refuge), L. Andrews, J. Hammond, D. Jennings, C. did not find any suitable habitat or the butterfly. We only Martino, J. Milio, and A. Ratzlaff (U.S. Fish and Wildlife briefly searched a few private areas in South Carolina with Service), T. A. Beaty, D. Stevenson, and D. Thompson nice-looking longleaf pine habitat, the Groton Plantation (Fort Stewart), L. Chafin, B. Lenczewski (Florida Natu- in Allendale County and the Okeetee Hunt Club proper- ral Areas Inventory), A. Colaninno, G. Hegg, and S. Pro- ty near Hardeeville. We found neither Sorghastrum secun- vo (Apalachicola National Forest), B. and L. Cooper, dum nor the Arogos skipper at these sites. M. A. Friedman (North American Butterfly Associa- Powerline corridors that are managed by periodic tion), T. Engstrom, L. and J. Neel (Greenwood Planta- mowing are important sites for the Arogos skipper. About tion), K. Gordon, A. Hargis (Homochitta National half of the existing colonies in the southeastern U.S. are Forest), S. Hall, B. Hart, S. Leonard, N. McInnis, J. in powerline corridors. Whereas many powerline corri- Moore, S. Saucier, D. Schweitzer, B. Sorrie, R. Tate (The dors in Florida and the Gulf States are still in a natural Nature Conservancy), S. Herford (Mississippi Sandhill state, most of those we found in Georgia and South Caro- Crane National Wildlife Refuge), D. Imm (Savannah lina had been plowed and planted with bahiagrass River U.S. Forest Service), C. Irvin (City of Jacksonville), ( notatum) or had regrown with weeds. L. K. Kirkman (Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Although the Arogos skipper is found in habitats reg- Center at Ichauway), M. Allen, P. Gray (Florida Fish and ularly burned by wild fires, the butterfly has no way to sur- Wildlife Conservation Commission), S. Penfield (Avon vive fire, except in unburned refugia. Natural fires usually Park Air Force Range), C. Petrick, A. J. Stevens (Eglin result in a mosaic of burned and unburned habitat. Burn- Air Force Base), D. Ruple (Grand Bay National Estua- ing too much of the habitat at a colony could extirpate rine Research Reserve), L. Lowry, C. Sekerak (Ocala Na- the butterfly from the site. Fire suppression may also lead tional Forest), F. Snow (South Georgia College), D. to loss since the butterfly requires open habitat with an Bryan, J. Stevenson (Florida Department of Environ- abundance of the larval host grass. Without fire, grasses mental Protection), J. Calhoun, R. Gatrelle, J. Slotten, tend to diminish and woody plants increase in domi- and B. Sullivan.

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LITERATURE CITED Harris, L. 1972. Butterflies of Georgia. University of Okla- homa Press, Norman. Abbot, J. and J. E. Smith. 1797. The Natural History of the Klotz, A. B. 1951. A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Rarer Lepidopterous of Georgia. London, J. Ed- North America East of the Great Plains. Houghton Miff- wards; Cadell and Davies; J. White. Volume 1, xv + 102 lin Co., Boston, MA. pp., plates 1-51. Volume 2, 103-214 pp., plates 52-104. Lindsey, A. W. 1921. The Hesperioidea of America North Boisduval, J. E. and J. E. Le Conte. 1834. Historie générale of . University of Iowa Studies, Studies in Natural et iconographie des Lépidoptères et des chenilles de l’Amérique History 9(2):1-114. Septentrionalis. Paris, Roret. Livraisons 23-26: 197-228, pls. Miller, L. D. and F. M. Brown. 1981. A catalogue/check- 66-78. list of the butterflies of America north of Mexico. The Cooper, L. F. and B. W. Cooper. 2004. Butterflies of Kiss- Lepidopterists’ Society Memoir 2: 1-280. immee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee County, Minno, M. C. 1994a. Arogos Skipper: Atrytone arogos arogos Florida. Published by the authors, Haines City, FL. (Boisduval and Le Conte). Pages 590-592 in M. Deyrup DeLorme. 1998a. Alabama Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, and R. Franz, editors. Rare and Endangered Biota of Flor- ME. ida. Vol. IV. Invertebrates. University of Florida Press, DeLorme. 1998b. Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Gainesville. ME. Minno, M. C. 1994b. Immature stages of the skipper but- DeLorme. 1998c. Mississippi Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, terflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) of the United States: ME. Biology, morphology, and descriptions. Ph. D. Disserta- tion, University of Florida, Department of Zoology, DeLorme. 1998d. South Carolina Atlas & Gazetteer. Gainesville. Yarmouth, ME. Scudder, S. H. 1869. Transactions of the Chicago Acade- DeLorme. 2000a. Florida Atlas & Gazetteer. Fifth edition. my of Science 1:336. Yarmouth, ME. Scudder, S. H. 1872a. A systematic revision of some of the DeLorme. 2000b. Mississippi Atlas & Gazetteer. Second North American butterflies; with brief notes on those edition. Yarmouth, ME. known to occur in Essex Co., Mass. 4th Annual Report of Hall, S. P. 1999. A rangewide status survey of the eastern the Peabody Academy of Sciences (1871):24-83. Arogos skipper Atrytone a. arogos (Lepidoptera: Hesperi- Scudder, S. H. 1872b. Abbott’s [sic] notes on Georgian idae). Report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, butterflies. Canadian Entomologist 4:73-77. Asheville, NC.

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R R R 10 2-10 R 1-12 3-11

R 3-12

2-10

2-12 3-9 2-4 R

2-11 1-12

1-12 R

2-10

1-12

1-12 5-7 2-11 3-10 R 6, 8-10

3-10 3-11

3-10

3-11 2-12

2-10

3-10 4-10

1-12

1-12 R

2-11 Pyrgus oileus

1-12 areolata

Subfamily Pyrginae Subfamily Danainae 3-12 1-12 1-12 otho tripunctus Epargyreus clarus confusis themistocles minimus proteus neamathla Atrytone logan Urbanus dorantes arpa accius Nastra Iherminier aaroni byssus Atrytone arogos Subfamily Hesperiinae SKIPPER Hemeuptychia sosybius Neonympha Ancyloxpha numitor Hylephila phyleus Danaus plexippus Atalopedes campestral Danaus eresimus Danaus gilippus Subfamily Satyrinae Pyrgus communis/albescens Hesperiidae . .Confused Cloudywing . .Northern Cloudywing . .Monarch . .Common/White Checkered-Skipper . .Silver-spotted Skipper . .Long-tailed Skipper . .Dorantes Longtail . .Swarthy Skipper . .Neamathla Skipper . .Carolina Satyr . .Georgia Satyr . .Queen . .Soldier . .Tropical Checkered-Skipper . .Zarucco . .Juvenal’s Duskywing . .Horace’s Duskywing . .Three-spotted Skipper . .Clouded Skipper . .Least Skipper . .Southern Skipperling . .Fiery Skipper . .Tawny-edged Skipper . .Whirlabout . .Southern Broken-Dash . .Meske’s Skipper . .Sachem . .Arogos Skipper . .Byssus Skipper . .Delaware Skipper . .Berry’s Skipper . .Aaron’s Skipper . .Palmetto Skipper . .Palatka Skipper SATYRS MILKWEED BUTTERFLIES SPREAD-WING SKIPPERS GRASS-SKIPPERS R 1-12 R 2-12 3-11 1-12 R

3-12 1-12 R 3-10 R 1-12 3-11 28 R 1-12 1-12 3-10 Subfamily 4-6 1-12 1-12

1-12 3-12 1-12 1-12 R 4-11 1-12 1-12 1-12 7 1-12 Calycopis cecrops claudia Parrhasius m-album Junonia coenia Subfamily Nymphalinae charithonia Phyciodes phaon Libytheana carinenta Calephelis virginiensis Strymon melinus Anartia jatrophae Vanessa virginiensis Fixsenia favonius Hemiargus ceraunus Phyciodes tharos Nathalis iole Polygonia interrogationis Eurema nicippe Eurema daira Vanessa cardui Leptotes cassius Agraulis vanillae Vanessa atalanta Eurema lisa Subfamily Theclinae Family Riodinidae Subfamily Limenitis archippus Subfamily Subfamily Polyommatinae BRUSHFOOTED BUTTERFLIES Family Lycaenida Family GOSSAMER-WING BUTTERFLIES . .Painted Lady . .Red Admiral . .Common Buckeye . .White Peacock . .Little Yellow . .Question Mark . .Julia Heliconian . .Variegated Fritillary . .Hackberry Emperor . .Tawny Emperor . .Oak Hairstreak . .Red-banded Hairstreak . .American Snout . .Viceroy . .Barred Yellow . .White M Hairstreak . .Gray Hairstreak . .Ceraunus Blue . . . .Zebra Heliconian . .Phaon Crescent . .Sleepy Orange . .Little Metalmark . .Pearl Crescent . .Dainty Sulphur . .Cassius Blue . .American Lady Heliconiinae HAIRSTREAKS BLUES HELICONIANS AND FRIILLARIES TRUE BRUSHFOOTS ADMIRALS EMPERORS METALMARKS R 1-12 1-12 R R 1-12 1-12 R 10 R 2-12 R 1-12 2-10 8 3-12 1-12 1-12 2-10 5-10 Pterourus glaucus philea Pterourus palamedes Battus polydamas Phoebis agarithe Pterourus troilus Ascia monuste Battus philenor Phoebis sennae Eurytides marcellus Ponita protodice Papilo polyzenes Heraclides cesphontes subfamily Papilioniae

STATE PARK BUTTLERFLIES OF Subfamily Subfamily Pierinae Family Papilionidae Family KISSIMMEE PRAIRIE PRESERVE ______OKEECHOBEE COUNTY, FLORIDA SWALLOWTAILS AND PARNASSIANS . Checkered White . Orange-barred Sulphur . Spicebush Swallowtail . Eastern Tiger Swallowtail . Polydamas Swallowtail . Zebra Swallowtail . Great Southern White . Cloudless Sulphur . Large Orange Sulphur . Black Swallowtail . Palamedes Swallowtail . Giant Swallowtail . Pipevine Swallowtail . Orange Sulphur DATE: ______TIME: ______WEATHER: ______SWALLOWTAILS WHITES AND SULPHURES WHITES SULPHURS

223 Revised March 2004 Checklist prepared by Haines City, FL 33844 558 sunshine Boulevard Linda F. and Byrum W. Cooper This checklist will be updated periodically. If you have photo identification of species not list- ed, please notify us at the address below. Checklist and English ______indicates butterfly is RARE in the park. ______TOTAL INDIVUALS: OBSERVERS: FIELD NOTES: ______Numbers 1-12 indicate butterfly flight months. R Scientific nomenclature and English names follow the North American Butterfly Association 2001 Names of North American Butterflies, Second Edition. NOTES continued . R 1-12 3 & 4, 7-10

5-12

1-12 4-11

1-12

3-10 R

Oligoria maculata ethlius eufaula Atrytonopsis hianna ocola capucinus . Dun Skipper . Monk Skipper . Dusted Skipper . Eufaula Skipper . Twin-spot Skipper . Brazilian Skipper . Ocola Skipper TOTAL SPECIES: ______

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