AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES Published by Number 1054 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY March 22, 1940 New York City NEW BUTTERFLY SUBSPECIES FROM WYOMING (NYMPHALIDAE, PIERIDAE) BY ALEXANDER B. KLOTS1 Boloria2 pales halli, new subspecies luster, if any. The spot at the end of the cell is consistently white in color and only faintly This is a very distinct subspecies of pale8 from pearly, never silvery, being thus less lustrous high altitudes in the Wind River Range, Sub- than in any of the other Nearctic subspecies lette Co., Wyoming, the recording of which ex- and most of the Palaearctic ones. Especially tends the known range of pales in North America noteworthy is the considerable reduction of the many hundreds of miles to the southward. submarginal row of red, triangular spots which Hallt may be characterized as follows: in other subspecies form the inner borders of the MALE.-Average length of fore-wing, 18.3 marginal row of silvery spots. In halli most of mm. these red spots are reduced in size; this, in con- Ground-color of upper side of wings bright junction with the above-mentioned almost total orange-brown, very lightly tinged with pinkish absence of white, pearly or silvery, results in a or reddish. The usual transverse rows of spots very characteristic obliteration of the marginal and irregular lines are all present. Those in the row of spots. basal half (or slightly more than half) of the The males show comparatively little variation wings are somewhat narrower than in most of in color and markings, far less than would be the Palaearctic forms of the species, as is also expected in a species occupying a habitat that the case with B. pales alaskensis (Holland). is subject to such extreme climatic changes. The fore-wings are dusted with fuscous scaling FEMALE.-Average length of fore-wing, 19.02 at the bases, somewhat more broadly along the mm, inner margin than along the costa. The hind- Ground-color of most of the area of upper side wings are more heavily shaded basally than the of both wings light gray, tinted with light brown- fore-wings; but this shading almost always fails ish yellow. The color tends to be noticeably to reach the end of the discal cell. lighter, brighter and more yellow in the costal, Ground-color of under-side of fore-wing some- subcostal and apical light areas and spots of the what duller, and with a slightly more pinkish fore-wing, and in the anal light spots of the hind- tinge than that of the upper side. The spots and wing. In sharp contrast to the general ground- bands of the upper side "show through" very color, the costal and subapical region of the bind- faintly, those in and at the end of the discal cell wing has the ground-color bright orange-brown, more strongly. The apex and a narrowing as bright as the ground-color of the male. Dark border that does not reach the anal angle are markings much heavier and more suffused than yellow, slightly tinged with greenish. In this in the male. yellow area some of the spots of the upper side Ground-color of under-side of fore-wing a are repeated, of a brownish-red color; but these somewhat darker, more reddish brown than in are of much smaller extent than the correspond- the male. The black markings of the upper side ing spots on the upper side. are nearly all repeated here, though much smaller Ground-color of under-side of hind-wing yel- than on upper side. The apical and outer- low slightly tinged with greenish; dark markings marginal light area is of a definitely more green- brownish red to bright red. In the great ma- ish yellow than in the male. The dark red jority of the specimens the dark markings are so markings in this area are as in the male. The considerably diluted by dusting of the greenish- black dots at the ends of the veins are heavier yellow ground-color that the entire wing shows than in the male. a noticeable lack of contrast between the light Ground-color of under-side of hind-wing a and dark areas. With the exception of the large more greenish yellow than in the male, the green- spot at the end of the cell, all of the markings, ish tinge being more pronounced in the areas which in other subspecies of pales (especially which on the upper side of the wing are black or most of the Palaearctic ones) are bright silvery fuscous. The dark red- markings average only white, here show only faint traces of a pearly very slightly heavier than in the male; but 1 College of the City of New York. since their hue is in greater contrast with the 2 Boloria Moore, genotype pales (Denis and ground-color, the wing has a more contrasty Schiffermueller) should, in the author's estimation, As in the male the be recognized as a valid genus. Pales has usually and variegated appearance. been placed in the genus Brenthis Huebner. See pearly or silvery white markings are all very also note under the next subspecies here described. much reduced in size and luster. 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITA TES [No. 1054 There is a great deal of variation' in the ex- only *one specimen, a male from Point tent of the black markings and fuscous dusting on the upper side of the wings of the females, Barrow, Alaska (dos Passos collection), to proportionately more than in the males. There which this name would be applied. It evi- is also considerable variation in the intensity of dently represents an extreme Arctic sub- the dark red markings of the under-side of the species. hind-wings. Below are listed the chief characteristics TYPE LOT.-Holotype male, alIotype fe- that serve to differentiate halli from these male, 139 male paratypes and 57 female three named forms. In the case of paratypes, vicinity of Green River Pass, alaskensis this is based on comparison Wind River Range, Sublette Co., Wyom- with the material listed above; with re- ing, July 18-31, 1939, collected by David gard to reiffi and nearctica it is based mostly Bigelow and the author. The holotype, on the descriptions of these forms by Reuss, allotype and a series of paratypes have Verity and Lehmann. been deposited in the collection of The From alaskensis, halli is distinguished by American Museum of Natural History. the following: The remaining paratypes are in the collec- (1) The deeper orange-brown ground-color tions of Mr. Bigelow and the author. of the upper side of the wings of the males. (2) The much lighter, yellow-brown tinged, Series of them will be distributed to numer- gray ground-color of the upper side of the wings ous museums. of the female, which contrasts strongly with the COMPARISON WITH OTHER NORTH AMERI- bright yellow-brown, costal and apical region of CAN SUBSPECIES OF pales.-Three other the hind-wing. In alaskensis females the ground-color of most of the area of the wings is a names have been applied to forms of pales much darker, duller yellow-brown; tbat of the in North America; these are: costal and apical region of the hind-wing is not as bright as in haili; and so the general appear- (1) Brenthis pales var. alaskensis HOLLAND, ance of alaskensis females is much duller and less 1900, Ent. News, XI, p. 383. contrasty. (2) Boloria reiffl REUSS, 1925, Intern. Ent. (3) The reduction in size, on the upper side Zeitung, XIX, pp. 279-280. of both wings of the males, of the submarginal (3) Boloria pales nearctica VERITY, 1932, row of black spots. In alaskensis these tend to Deutsch. Ent. Zeitschr., Iris, XLVI, pp. 104 be more produced inwardly, forming inward- and 108. pointing triangles. In halli they tend to be less triangular in shape. These spots also "show Of these I have been able to study satis- through" less on the under-side in halli, a factory material of alaskensis only for characteristic which accentuates the lack of comparison with halli. Of this subspecies marginal spots in this form (see no. 7 ff.). I have studied critically 30 males and 23 (4) The slightly greater reduction of the basal fuscous dusting on the upper side of both females from various southern and western wings of the males. This is more noticeable localities in Alaska, and Atlin, B. C. on the hind-wings, for in haili the dusting almost These are in the American Museum, dos always fails to reach the end of the discal cell, Passos and Klots collections. while in alaskensis it nearly always does so. (5) The reduction of the dark, red-brown, Reiffi was described from a single male subapical markings on the under-side of the fore- from an unknown locality in British Colum- wings of both sexes. bia. Reuss mentions particularly the bril- (6) The reduction and dilution by the liance and contrast of the red and silver ground-color of the dark, red-brown markings of the under-side of the hind-wings of both sexes. markings of the under-side, a characteriza- (7) The reduction of the white, pearly or tion that applies to one of the Atlin, B. C., silvery markings of the under-side of the hind- specimens studied by me but not to the wings of both sexes, especially the almost total other. I suspect that reiffi will eventually loss of the marginal row of pearly or silvery spots. In halli there are at most only faint prove to be a synonym of alaskensis.