Lepidoptera of North America 15 Butterflies of southern California in 2018: updating Emmel and Emmel’s 1973 Butterflies of southern California By Ken Davenport Contributions of the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity Colorado State University 1 2 Lepidoptera of North America 15 Butterflies of southern California in 2018: updating Emmel and Emmel’s 1973 Butterflies of southern California by Ken Davenport 8417 Rosewood Avenue Bakersfield, California 93306-6151 Museum Associate C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity Department of Bioagricultural Sciences Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1177 April 20, 2018 3 Front cover: Ford’s Swallowtail, Papilio indra fordi J.A. Comstock and Martin Image courtesy of Chuck Harp, LepNet project, C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity (www.LepNet.org) ISSN 1084-8819 This publication and others in this series are open access and may be accessed and downloaded at no cost at https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/discover/contributions of the c.p.Gillettemuseum Copyright 2018© 4 The purpose of this paper and progress made in the study of butterflies of southern California since 1973. It has now been more than 44 years since Thomas C. Emmel and John F. Emmel’s The Butterflies of Southern California was published on November 30, 1973. The Emmels’ provided a history of previous leaders in gathering information on the fauna of southern California butterflies, information on life zones and butterfly habitats and season progression. They also listed areas little visited that needed more field study. They covered 167 species and an additional 64 subspecies or segregates (many of those have since been elevated to species status or removed as segregates for not being all that distinct since 1973) known from southern California based on the boundaries they set and provided a list of rarely recorded or doubtful records, ten color plates, and literature cited. More than 100 contributors helped provide them information and observations for the project. What about now? At the start of 2018 with the addition of some added territory in this work, those numbers have increased. In this updated study, I will include all of San Luis Obispo County, extend the northern boundaries about 20 to 25 miles north in the Sierra Nevada (the Kern Plateau was excluded in the 1973 publication, possibly because that area was still poorly known at that time) and Greenhorn Mountains to include part of the Sierra Nevada on the Kern Plateau north to the Sherman Pass Road as the north boundary and extend territory in Inyo County north to Lone Pine and Whitney Portal which is the northern limit of the Mojave Desert. Emmel & Emmel had included the southern part of Death Valley National Monument (now a National Park) in their work. That now brings us to 209 species (five subspecies are now given species status herein) and 160 subspecies or segregates. Most of the added species or subspecies were either discovered or recognized inside the Emmel and Emmel’s originally defined southern California boundaries, were elevated to species or subspecies status through descriptions and naming and only a few were added by extending the boundaries. Seven species are added by adding the Kern Plateau in the Sierra Nevada which was excluded by the Emmels. Two more of those on the Kern Plateau are now also known from what was previously defined as southern California. Only two species are added by extending the boundaries of San Luis Obispo County northward. Only one is added by moving the Inyo County boundaries northward. There are 47 taxa listed in rarely recorded or doubtful records. Thirteen of those have specific records inside California which would bring the southern California total to 222 species, a few more than if I used the Pelham list exclusively. A number of other butterflies could have been placed on that list of rarely recorded species because of doubtful status but were placed on the main list because of multiple records or the possibility they may be “resident” butterflies. A number of butterflies in 1973 are not in this updated work because of taxonomic revisions or changed status and some segregates are no longer recognized as all that different. Some were believed to be in southern California but were based on misidentifications, mislabeling or misinformation. Another reality is that there are many species or subspecies of controversial status. A great number of new subspecies or butterflies of changed status are to be found in the Systematics of Western North America book, many that are in southern California. Thomas and John Emmel made major contributions in that work and so did Sterling Mattoon, George T. Austin and others. Other major contributors in other publications include James A. Scott and many others are noted in literature cited. 5 The Emmels in 1973 encouraged further exploration in the Colorado River Valley and the mountains bordering that river. Few have gone there in the last 44 years. John Emmel, Gordon Pratt and Derham Giuliani did quite a lot of research in the Death Valley region under permit and their work is evident in the Systematics book. The Piute Mountains area has been well explored in those areas accessible by a poor dirt road but much is inaccessible or on private property. The higher mountains in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties are now much better known. On the Kern Plateau, the Sherman Pass road, and areas south to SR 178 are now much better known. John Emmel and Gordon Pratt have sampled many small ranges in the eastern Mojave Desert but many desert ranges and portions of the Mojave Desert are now legally off limits to collecting. Few butterfly photographers go to those harsh lands of high temperatures, poor roads, and many dangerous desert hazards, animals and plants. Looking at the tremendous amount of work done in the past 44 years, there is a real need to bring all of this information together. There are 42 more species on the list now, and nearly 100 new subspecies or segregates. Many species or subspecies not well known then are now. Many books and scientific papers or articles have been published that have increased our knowledge of southern California. There have been many names changes. There have been many range changes with some species extending their ranges while others are disappearing from past well- known localities due to habitat loss, fires, drought, disease, predators, lethal pesticides and flooding. Photographs were not included in this publication. Most of the butterflies in southern California can be seen in publications published already (including the 10 colored plates in the Southern California book by the Emmels, though names to those colored plates may be outdated or changed) in various field guides and in regional works on San Diego County butterflies or in Yosemite Butterflies, the color plates issue (Davenport, N. Kondla, Grisham & Grisham, 2007) which illustrates every butterfly that was known in the Yosemite region as of 2007, although two more have been added since then – Hemiargus ceraunus gyas and Euphilotes glaucon intermedia.. Wanda Dameron published a book entitled "Searching for Butterflies in Southern California" (1997) of butterflies to be found in every geographical area of southern California as defined by the Emmel's (1973) using NABA names but included subspecies names. It also provided localities to search and host plant information. The best place to go for all of the very little-known subspecies that were described from National Parks or Preserves off limits to collecting or “endangered species” is to the Butterflies of America website, where the excellent color photographic work by Mike Stangeland and Kim Davis are on display. Often types are pictured. Andrew Warren did an excellent job with that web site. Black and white photographs were used picturing new butterfly species or subspecies in the Systematics of Western North American Butterfly book edited by Thomas C. Emmel (1998). The latter book is a must for those with a serious interest in the details of southern California butterfly names changes and new taxa. Methods: How this information was gathered. A number of publications cover regional butterflies at the county level since 1973. Larry Orsak published a book (year end 1977) covering the butterflies of Orange County and provided many specific collecting records. Lynn and Gene Monroe (2004) published an excellent pictorial publication covering the butterflies and hostplants of eastern San Diego County centered on 6 Anza-Borrego State Park. Kojiro Shiraiwa (2009) followed that up with a book covering the butterflies of San Diego County as a whole. There is very little text but the reader can obtain information on status of the butterfly as resident or rare stray, flight times and host plants. The photographs are excellent and well picture many of the butterflies in southern California. The author published an article in the Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society covering the butterflies of Kern County in 1983 with a publication published by the C. P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity at Colorado State University covering the butterflies of Kern and Tulare County in three editions 2003-2014. Only a very small part of Tulare County is covered in the present publication, with an extended boundary in the Greenhorn Mountains and north to about the Sherman Pass road and the Kern Plateau south of there. Those wanting more records can consult those publications which are now served on-line (https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/browse?type=subject&value=butterflies+--+California+-- +Tulare+County+--+Classification). Another book “An Introduction to Southern California Butterflies” with the text by Fred Heath and photographs by Herbert Clarke appeared in 2004 and provides an introduction to the regions butterflies and photos of many species of living butterflies.