Edited and Compiled by Rick Cavasin and Jessica E. Linton Toronto Entomologists’ Association Occasional Publication # 48-2018 European Skippers mudpuddling, July 6, 2017, Jones Road, near Blackhawk, RAIN (Photo: Michael Dawber) Dusted Skipper, April 20, 2017, Ipperwash Beach, LAMB American Snout, August 6, 2017, (Photo: Bob Yukich) Dunes Beach, PRIN (Photo: David Kaposi) ISBN: 978-0-921631-53-7 Ontario Lepidoptera 2017 Edited and Compiled by Rick Cavasin and Jessica E. Linton April 2018 Published by the Toronto Entomologists’ Association Toronto, Ontario Production by Jessica Linton TORONTO ENTOMOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION Board of Directors: (TEA) Antonia Guidotti: R.O.M. Representative Programs Coordinator The TEA is a non-profit educational and scientific Carolyn King: O.N. Representative organization formed to promote interest in insects, to Publicity Coordinator encourage cooperation among amateur and professional Steve LaForest: Field Trips Coordinator entomologists, to educate and inform non-entomologists about insects, entomology and related fields, to aid in the ONTARIO LEPIDOPTERA preservation of insects and their habitats and to issue Published annually by the Toronto Entomologists’ publications in support of these objectives. Association. The TEA is a registered charity (#1069095-21); all Ontario Lepidoptera 2017 donations are tax creditable. Publication date: April 2018 ISBN: 978-0-921631-53-7 Membership Information: Copyright © TEA for Authors All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be Annual dues: reproduced or used without written permission. Individual-$30 Student-free (Association finances permitting – Information on submitting records, notes and articles to beyond that, a charge of $20 will apply) Ontario Lepidoptera can be obtained by contacting: Family-$35 Jessica E. Linton All membership queries and payment of dues can be Summary Production and Co-editor of Butterflies and directed to Chris Rickard, Treasurer, T.E.A., 16 Mount Skippers View Court, Collingwood, Ontario L9Y 5A9. e-transfers 157 Oriole Street can be sent to [email protected] Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2B3 Publications received as part of a TEA membership Home Tel: (519) 489-2568 include: Cellular: (519) 502-3773 3 issues per year of our news journal Email: [email protected] Ontario Insects annual Ontario Lepidoptera summary Discounts on sales of other publications. COVER PHOTOGRAPHS The TEA Board Front: Question Mark, Compton Tortoiseshell and, Red The TEA is run by a volunteer board. The executive Admiral, August 29, 2017, Lincoln Ave., Toronto, METR officers are elected every two years. (Photo: Bob Yukich). Executive Officers: President: Glenn Richardson Vice-President: Alan Macnaughton Treasurer: Chris Rickard Secretary: (vacant) Ontario Lepidoptera 2017_____________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS GENERAL INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 2 CORRECTIONS TO ONTARIO LEPIDOPTERA 2017............................................................... 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ 4 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS AND OBSERVERS ........................................................................ 5 ONTARIO BUTTERFLY COUNTS IN 2017 ............................................................................. 13 WHAT OBSERVERS CAN DO ABOUT DUPLICATE RECORDS ......................................... 21 AN UPDATE ON TIGER SWALLOWTAILS IN ONTARIO ................................................... 25 AZURES IN ONTARIO: 2017 UPDATE .................................................................................... 29 NOTEWORTHY MOTH RECORDS FOR ONTARIO 2017 ..................................................... 31 SUMMARY OF ONTARIO BUTTERFLIES AND SKIPPERS IN 2017 .................................. 38 ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE SPECIES ACCOUNTS ...................................................... 43 Family: HESPERIIDAE ........................................................................................................... 44 Family: PAPILIONIDAE ......................................................................................................... 69 Family: PIERIDAE ................................................................................................................... 78 Family: LYCAENIDAE ........................................................................................................... 88 Family: NYMPHALIDAE ...................................................................................................... 109 Correspondence between plant names used in this publication and VASCAN names .............. 146 CHECKLIST OF ONTARIO BUTTERFLIES AND SKIPPERS ............................................. 152 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. TEA Counties, Districts and Regional Municipalities .................................................. 11 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. List of Contributors and Observers for 2016 ................................................................... 5 1 Ontario Lepidoptera 2017_____________________________________________________________________ GENERAL INTRODUCTION With this issue of Ontario Lepidoptera, there is a change in the editorial team. Ross Layberry, who has served the TEA well as co-editor for the past 12 years, has decided to focus his efforts on maintaining the database of 355,000 records behind the Ontario Butterfly Atlas Online. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Ross for his long service as co-editor. Rick Cavasin agreed to step in for the 2017 summary to summarize the species accounts and serve as co-editor with Jessica Linton, who continues in that position. Rick Cavasin is a longtime amateur butterfly enthusiast. As a kid, Rick collected butterflies in the Niagara Region and on family vacations further north. He rekindled this interest when he took up photography in the early 2000's. Although he mostly photographs butterflies in the Ottawa area, he visits Southern Ontario regularly, and occasionally makes forays further afield. His images have been included in several publications including the new ROM Field Guide to Butterflies of Ontario, and his self-published Pocket Guides to Butterflies of Southern and Eastern Ontario, Southern Quebec, and the Maritimes. Since about 2012, Rick has helped with sorting out problems with Atlas data and with IDing observations reported on eButterfly and iNaturalist. This issue of Ontario Lepidoptera includes informative articles about avoiding duplicate records by Rick Cavasin, an update on what we know about the morphological differences and distribution of the tiger swallowtails by Xi Wang, and more information on the progress being made to sort out the azures by Chris Schmidt. James Kamstra’s annual summary of Ontario’s butterfly counts and a summary of noteworthy moth observations by Alan Macnaughton and Ross Layberry are also included. As usual, the articles and notes are followed by the written summary of the 2017 Ontario butterfly records that have been submitted by our many contributors. Data for all records of all butterfly species received for 2017 (much more data than can be included in the printed summary!) are included in a table available to TEA members as PDF files from Ross Layberry (see contact information below). The contents of this publication have been checked for errors and accuracy as much as possible. Please notify us of any corrections of errors or omissions, and these will be included in future issues of Ontario Lepidoptera and incorporated into the database. Pages 145 to 150 show the correspondence between the plant names used in this publication and those in VASCAN – the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada. This is a comprehensive list of all vascular plants reported in Canada, Greenland (Denmark) and Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France). VASCAN is widely accepted by botanists as the current authority for Canadian botanical taxonomy: http://data.canadensys.net/vascan/search 2 Ontario Lepidoptera 2017_____________________________________________________________________ 2018 Submissions We will be accepting records, articles, notes, and photographs for Ontario Lepidoptera 2018 until December 31, 2018. Please note, if you have submitted your observations online you do not need to submit them directly. Information on how to submit records that have not been submitted online can be obtained from: Jessica Linton 157 Oriole Street Waterloo, ON N2J 2B3 Tel: 519-489-2568 Email: [email protected] When submitting photos, please ensure the file name contains: 1) the species name, 2) date of observation, and 3) location of observation. 3 Ontario Lepidoptera 2017_____________________________________________________________________ CORRECTIONS TO ONTARIO LEPIDOPTERA 2017 pg 16 - no Common Roadside-Skippers were recorded on the Pelee Island count. Pages 62, St. Joseph’s Island, second last line should read St. Joseph Island. pg 63 - Little Yellow - 1st line - no date given. Date was June 27, 2017 pg 68 - Banded Hairstreak - 3rd last line: July 26 should be June 26. pg 74 - under Celastrina sp. - 1st line - 2018 should be 2016. Page 78, line 13 reads – Jim Lake Road Kenora (DHE), Should read - Jim Lake Road Rainy River (DHE). pg 93 - Tawny Emperor - 3rd last line - August 10 should be August 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ontario Lepidoptera would not be possible without the considerable effort of the contributors and observers