Spring Ephemerals

8/9/2019 Spring Ephemerals

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by Susan L. Post, James Sternburg, and James Wik

TheTermsprIngephemeralevokesTrIpsToThewoodsToseeanever-changIngpaleTTeoffavorITe

sprIngwIldflowers. BuThaveyoueverThoughTofephemeralsInTermsofBuTTerflIes? whIlewear

usedToseeIngswallowTaIls, mornIngcloaks, caBBagewhITes, andThefIrsTmonarchofsprIng, we

knowwewIllconTInueToseeThemThroughouTThesprIng, summer, andevenInTofall. BuTwhaT

aBouTThoseBuTTerflIesThaTareouTforonlyafewshorTweekseachsprIng? IllInoIshas 10 spe-

cIesThaTappearanddIsappearlIkeTheBloomsofaBloodrooT. andlIkeThepeTalsofaBloodrooT

Blossom, InevITaBlycarrIedawayBysprIngwInds, TheseBuTTerflIesmakeonlyBrIefappearanceseach

IllInoIssprIng.

Two of these species, the falcate orangetip and the Olympia marble, are related to the ever-present cabbagewhite. Four specieshoary, frosted, Henrys, and pineare small and brown and are called elfins. The term elfi

defined as small, delicate and graceful, a mysterious creature. The elfin butterflies certainly fall into this catego

The final fourspring azure, silvery blue, dusky azure, and northern hairstreakbelong to the blues and hair-

streaks. They occur in shades of blue and gray, but when they settle, they show their undersides, which are cres

cents and dashesa language in code.

THE ILLINOIS STEWA


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Spring has arrived in southern Illinois when one seesthe orangetips visiting toothwort (Dentaria). The falcateorangetip is one of the true harbingers of spring, flying

through the woodlands only a few feet above the groundand seemingly never stopping. Once they alight, theyare very approachable and can be studied at length by thecareful observer. The male gives the species its commonname because it has a bold orange tip on its sickle-shaped(falcate) forewings.

Orangetips prefer wet,open deciduous forestsin succession, especially

those with young trees andplenty of small open areas.Both sexes bask frequently,especially early in the day.Males set up territories and

patrol for females duringthe late morning and earlyafternoon. Females lay only

one egg per plant and on the

Falcate OrangetipAnthocharis mideadeveloping leaf and floweringbuds of rock cresses (Arabisspp.), winter cresses (Barbareaspp.), and other mustards.The larvae feed on buds, flow-ers, and seedpods and pupateon sticks and branches near

the senescing host plants.Look for orangetips in

April at your favorite wild-flower haunt in southernIllinois.

Olympia MarbleEuchloe olympiaThe Olympia marble is found in prairie remnants andoak savannas and sand dunesdry sandy areas. InIllinois, they fly from April until May and have two

formsthe Great Lakes form, which is smaller and flieswell into May, and the regular form. The common namecomes from the marblelike pattern on the underside of

the hindwing.Males stake out hilltop locations or elevated sites and

patrol just a few feet above ground. Their flight is rapidand direct. Females deposit eggs on unopened flower budsand flowers of rock cresses (Arabisspp.). The larvae eat

the flower-ing parts andseedpods of

their hosts. Thebutterfly over-

winters as achrysalis.

Look forthis species in

spring at Sand RidState Forest on its hArabisspp. or also viting cleft phlox. Thmay also be found

the dry hill prairiesalong the Illinois anMississippi rivers.

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Pine ElfinCallophrys niphon

The first time I was in the field with my coauthor Dr.Sternburg, we found the pine elfin. It was mid-spring insouthern Illinois, and we had just parked at Hayes CreekCanyon. Dr. Sternburg jumped out of the car and started

whacking a pine tree with a stick. Look, he called, seethose brown butterflies? The pine elfins are still here! Eachtime he hit the tree, one or two small brown butterflies wouldfly out and then return. Its not often you get to share sucha moment in the field with one of your professors.

The pine elfin is found in areas dominated by pines. InIllinois, this is usually south of Carbondale. Males perch

at the top of small pines

where they bask. Theventral surface of theirwings is usually heldperpendicular to the sunsrays. The females are usu-ally seen only if they

Frosted ElfinCallophrys irusThe frosted elfin is a butterfly of pine barrens and oaksavannas, places where wild lupine or wild indigo grow.It shares a host plant and habitat with the federally listedKarner blue butterfly. While their distribution is wide-spread across the eastern half of the United States, frostedelfins are rare, or only locally frequent in all areas. They

hold the distinction of a nonfederally listed butterfly withthe greatest number of state-level listings. The last time thefrosted elfin was found in Illinois was in 1922. Two speci-mens were collected from Illinois Beach State Park.

Frosted elfins have white frosting on the posterior mar-gin of the hindwing. They also have a small tail extend-ing from the hindwing. The hoary elfin lacks these tails.Frosted elfins have a low, jerky flight and will often alightsuddenly on open ground. The females prefer legumes withinflated podswild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) and wildlupine (Lupinus perennis)and lay their eggs on the flow-ers and developing pods. The butterfly overwinters as a

pupa in loose cocoons in litter beneath the plant.

have been dislodged fromtheir perches. Single eggsare laid on new buds of

their host plants (pines).The first instars color-ation camouflages themin the emerging pineneedles. Pine elfins over-

winter as pupae.Look for pine elfins

in Pope County from lateApril until early May.

On the day after a rain-storm, find a fire lanegoing through pines. Thebutterflies will come down

from the trees to puddle.

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Dusky AzureCelastrina ebenina

The dusky azure is one of the rarest of all eastern U.S.butterflies, found only in a few sites in the southern

Appalachians, Ohio River valley, northwest Arkansas,and Illinois. They prefer north-facing deciduous woods

where their larval food plant, goats-beard (Aruncusdioicus), grows. This goats-beard is not the giant dan-delion of roadsides and fields, but a member of the rose

family with showy branching plumes.The adults emerge in April or early May. While the

adults will take nectar from wild geraniums, they areusually found flyingabove their larval food.

Females lay their eggson the undersides of

the goats-beard leaves,sometimes even before

the leaves are fullydeveloped. The larvae eat

the leaves and the young

Spring AzureCelastrina ladonThe spring azure is a herald of spring. With its dancing,erratic flight and dusky blue color, it is a more commonsight in the southern part of the state, even before most

flowers are in bloom. Spring azures belong to the subfam-ily called the blues. They are small butterflies with a shadeof blue on their upperside and distinctive markings on

the underside of their wings. Examine a spring azuresscales with a hand lens, and you will see that they are

butter-knife-shaped andshingled. With experi-ence, the spring azureis recognizable as adifferent tone of blue.Unfortunately, the look-alike summer azureis also out at the same

time as the spring azure,and at one time, these

two were thought to be

the same species. The summer azure is a lighter blue wa more extensive dusting of white scales, and it has mo

than one generation per year in Illinois. It is on the winfrom early spring until late summer.

Spring azures have a short adult lifespan. They ovewinter as pupae, which will emerge in early April. Male

patrol most of the day in search of fresh (newly emergefemales. Females mate on the day of emergence, lay theggs on the next day, and die soon after. The eggs are on the flower buds of the larval host plants that includ

flowering dogwood, wild cherry, maple-leaved viburnuNew Jersey tea, and various other woody shrubs.

flower stalks, with mature lar-vae preferring the flowers. InIllinois, look for dusky azures

where their food plants growMississippi Palisades State

Park and La Rue Pine Hills.

THE ILLINOIS STEWA

KenRobertson

Goats-b


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When Jim Wiker, coauthor ofField Guide to the SkipperButterflies of Illinois, was asked about the northern hair-streak, his comment was, Its always a surprise when I

find it. Ive only seen two in my lifetime! Northern hair-streaks are hard to identify (you need to look at the under-side of the hindwing for the characteristic W), and theylive high in the trees, very seldom coming down. Adultsmay be found when wild plum begins to flower into June.The adults will nectar from wild plum and other springephemerals. Females lay their eggs near or on the leafbuds located on the terminal branches of oaks (Quercusspp.). These butterflies overwinter as eggs and hatch

along with the emergence of the oak leaves in spring.Jim Wikers advice for locating a northern hairstreak

is to know what you are looking for and use precise tim-ing. A woodland trail after a rain where the hairstreaksmight puddle would be a good place to look. One final

piece of advice from Jim: They arent nearly as rare asthe records indicate. They could be anywhere!

The silvery blue is an early flyer that is easily missedand, unfortunately for us in Illinois, there are only two

populations in the state. The males of this species are rec-ognized by their iridescent, silvery blue wings in flight;

thus, the common name. Both sexes are easy to follow inflight by the flashes of silvery blue as they dart from one

flower to another when nectaring.Silvery blues never linger into summer. In Illinois,

they are on the wing from late April until early May. Themales patrol the general area of their host plants (variousspecies of legumes, with vetch and vetchling commonly

chosen) seeking females.Females lay their eggs on theleaves and flower buds of theirhost plants, timing their lay-ing so that newly emerged lar-

vae can feed on the just openedflowers. The larvae are sluglike

and their color depends on the

Silvery BlueGlaucopsyche lygdamus couperi

Northern HairstreakFixsenia favonius ontario

foodwhitish to purple if feeding onflowers, or green when eating leaves.Pupation is at the base of the foodplant where the pupa will overwinter.

The male stigma separathe species from the vercommon gray hairstrea(S. melinar).

Susan L. Post is the staff writer forThe Illinois Steward. James Sternburg is a professor emeritus of entomology at the UniverIllinois at Urbana-Champaign. James Wiker is a lepidopterist from Greenview. Photos by Michael R. Jeffords and James Stern

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Spring Ephemerals