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AMERIICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CITY OF NEW YORK MAY 6, 1953 NUMBER 1625 TAXONOMIC NOTES ON OENEIS UHLERI REAKIRT (LEPIDOPTERA, SATYRIDAE) By F. MARTIN BROWN1 Oeneis uhleri uhleri Reakirt and the northern subspecies uhleri varune, Edwards generally are separated on the basis of the macu- lation on the upper side of the wings and the condition of the discal band on the under side of the hind wings. These criteria have served reasonably well when the material being examined has come from central Colorado or the provinces of Alberta and Sas- katchewan. Recently I have had the opportunity to examine series from western Colorado and Wyoming. This material does not agree too well with either typical uhleri or varuna. While I have fairly well distributed series before me, I lack material from the two type localities. Reakirt described uhleri in 1866 from material collected the previous year in August by James Ridings. In all probability Ridings' material was collected in the grassy parks that crown the Front Range west of Denver (Bergen Park, etc.). Edwards (1892-1897) greatly amplified Reakirt's description and set the basis for our present concept of the species. His studies were based on a series of 73 specimens collected by Theodore L. Mead in 1871. Mead's material was collected in the Front Range about 20 miles south of the assumed type locality. Edwards also had be- fore him many more specimens collected by David Bruce during the period 1886 through 1891. Bruce's specimens came from the same general area as did Mead's. This country is rather dry ponderosa pine forest with much scattered open land that is grassy. It is in this grassy part of the forest that uhleri abounds in June and early July. A few fresh specimens are found in August that I Colorado Springs, Colorado. 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 1625 may represent a partial second brood or are just late-emerging insects. TT-he same sort of country extends north and south from the type locality for at least 100 miles. Edwards based his name varuna on material collected by Her- bert K. Morrison in 1881 in the "Dacota Territory" at an eleva- tion of about 1200 feet. I suspect that these specimens were taken somewhere in south central North Dakota, probably between Jamestown and Bismarck. He took about 100 varuna, of which Edwards received four males and three females. Later, Edwards (1892-1897) amplified his description with data from 33 males and five females taken by W. G. Wright in the foothills of several mountain ranges in eastern and central Montana. This is prairie country in the case of the types and foothill forest in the case of Wright's collection. The material that has served as the basis for this study consists of seven series, four of uhleri uhleri and three of uhleri varuna. Throughout the following discussions these series are referred to by the locality from whence they came. RAMPART RANGE: Sixteen males and two females collected by me near Woodland Park, Teller, County, Colorado, at 9500-9600 feet altitude between June 28 and July 4. The insects are common at this time in the deep grass on the south-facing slopes of the deep ravine through which the road climbs to the top of the range. The dominant tree in the area is the ponderosa pine, and there are a few Englemann spruce. The habitat is much the same as that at the assumed type locality west of Denver. The Ram- part Range is the southward extension of the same peneplain upon which I believe Ridings collected the types. HALL VALLEY: Twelve males and two females that I collected at the lower end of "Hall Valley" near the site of the now almost extinct town of Webster in Park County, Colorado. The material was taken on June 20 at 9600 feet altitude on the dry stream ter- race at the bottom of the valley in a grassy patch amid quaking aspen, ponderosa pine, and Engelmann spruce. At the same time Lionel Higgins took a similar series that I have not been able to include, since it is in England. This locality is about 20 miles west and south of the assumed type locality. It was one of David Bruce's favorite collecting points from which he shipped many specimens to W. H. Edwards. GOTHIC: Twenty-six males and four females collected by Wal- fried J. Reinthal of Norman, Oklahoma. The specimens were taken 1953 NOTES ON OENEIS UHLERI 3 between July 5 and 21 in the vicinity of the Biological Station of the Colorado Western State College. Reinthal described the habitat of the insects as the open grassy glades among the pines. These are the only uhleri that I have from the Pacific slope. They are somewhat different from the Atlantic slope material- larger and darker. It was this series that spurred me to make this study. LARAMIE MOUNTAINS: Thirty-one males and 12 females col- lected by me in the Laramie Mountains, Albany County, Wyom- ing, on July 2 and 3. The precise locality of the collection is on the divide just southeast of Eagle Mountain. The insects were abun- dant in the deep grass of an open area containing a few scattered, venerable ponderosa pines and surrounded by second-growth lodgepole pine and aspen. The above series are all uhleri rather than varuna. So far as I can tell, the Rampart Range and Hall Valley material is typical of the subspecies. The Gothic and Laramie Mountains series are somewhat atypical. All series were found in grassy openings in the forest and associated with ponderosa pine. The two atypical series came from areas that are wetter and cooler than the Front Range and the Gothic series from a country that has much more snow than any of the others. LLOYDMINSTER, SASKATCHEWAN: Seventeen males and two females collected by Richard J. Fitch between May 28 and June 9 on "prairie," now in my collection. CALGARY, ALBERTA: Fourteen males and six females collected by C. Garrett for Jean Gunder, in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. The collecting dates range from June 11 to 27. This is prairie country. DIDSBURY, ALBERTA: Forty-seven males and 24 females col- lected by C. Garrett for Jean Gunder, in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. The collecting dates range from June 6 to 27. This is prairie country. The three last-named series are uhleri varuna. They represent prairie strains similar to the types. Unfortunately I have not been able to examine a series of specimens that represent the forest strain such as Edwards received from Wright. MACULATION Edwards published (1892-1897) some data about the macula- tion of the upper side of both subspecies. From this he decided 4 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 1625 that one of the criteria for the separation of uhleri from varuna is the greater development of ocelli on the upper side of varuna. On the basis of my studies it seems that the maximum number of ocelli that might occur on the upper side is 20. Edwards' data were based on one side of the insect, left or right. To determine how well my series compared with his I made similar counts. The results of his TABLE 1 THE NUMBER OF OCELLI ON ONE SIDE (UPPER SURFACES) OF MALES Series N wing Hind Total Per Cent wing Wing uhleri Edwards' 14 25 21 46 32.8 +- 4.0 Rampart Range 16 27 42 69 43.1 4- 3.9 Hall Valley 12 22 42 62 51.2 4+ 4.6 Gothic 26 50 80 130 50.0 + 3.1 LaramieMts. 31 75 101 176 56.8 + 3.4 All series 99 199 286 485 49.0 + 1.5 varuna Dakotatypes 4 9 20 29 72.55t 7.1 Montana 33 123 146 269 81.5 + 2.1 Lloydminster 17 59 77 136 80.0 + 3.1 Calgary 1,+ 56 59 115 82.3 + 3.2 Didsbury 47 180 199 379 80.6 +t 1.8 Allseries 114 427 501 928 81.4 + 1.2 and my counts form table 1, and the significance of the differences is given in table 2. It is obvious that there is a difference in the degree to which the ocelli are developed on the two subspecies. But are these differences significant? It is possible to measure the differences in terms of the probability that such differences will occur in a homo- geneous population. One way of stating this is the per cent of times such a difference may be expected to be equaled or exceeded in a homogeneous population. This per cent is often called the "level of confidence." The level of confidence to be considered critical for subspecific differences among butterflies must be low in the face of evidence from accepted subspecies. It probably differs from family to family and from character to character. Statisticians generally consider a t of 3.0 significant when based on SE for laboratory experiments. 1953 NOTES ON OENEIS UHLERI 5 This is a level of confidence of 0.27 per cent. My own studies of the statistics of variation among taxonomic units occurring in nature suggest that t must be 7.0 when PE is used and 4.72 when SE is used before it is really significant. This level of confidence is 0.02 per cent. TABLE 2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DIFFERENCES ON THE UPPER SIDE, MALES Series Pairs Diff. S.D.d t Level of Confidence uhleri Edwards' vs.

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