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[DesertLeps] Two female Colias

Norbert Kondla
 

Further to this Colias 'philodice' topic; here is a link to a published map (from Butterflies of BC book 2001):
It uses the taxonomic hypothesis southern BC and southern AB populations as both being subspecies eriphyle.
But when I got around to comparing specimens, I found that the butterflies look too different for me to accept that interpretation. I still put the name eriphyle on some Alberta graphics/images, only because I don't have a better name available to use. 

On Sun, Mar 19, 2023 at 8:49 AM Norbert Kondla via groups.io <nkondla=telus.net@groups.io> wrote:
Edwards' original description of eriphyle was unusually robust for that point in lep history. Here is a summary of what he said:
He clearly described summer brood specimens.
Here are pics of summer brood female eriphyle from southern BC that agree with the description provided by Edwards:
and
Clearly that is NOT what I am finding in Alberta. There appears to be at least a subspecies level of difference. Here is an example of summer female 'eriphyle' from Alberta: https://flic.kr/p/2o2UQ6r

On Sun, Mar 19, 2023 at 8:31 AM Jeff Pippen <jeffpippen9@...> wrote:
Norbert's graphic shows photos of my (probably poor) understanding of what eriphyle looks like.  While I don’t have specimens other than live photos, as Harry P. mentioned earlier, we in the east simply don’t really see any “orangish” coloration on the ventral FW on philodice (or at least what we generally call philodice).  Like Norbert, I’d love to hear from folks with eastern, especially southeastern specimens who have made ID determinations based on UV or genitalia or…

Or if I’m incorrect, please correct me!

Cheers,
Jeff

On Mar 19, 2023, at 10:17 AM, Norbert Kondla <nkondla@...> wrote:

Recently I shared a graphic of a nice spring brood eriphyle/philodice female specimen. Then I found pics of a nice female from summer brood in same general area. So that allowed me to make this graphic:
I put the names eriphyle and philodice in the graphic. And I would not be surprised if the name eurytheme better applies to the summer bug. Pick whatever name you like ----
Question for eastern folks with philodice specimens: Do the spring brood critters have the same dorsal yellow color as the summer brood critters ???

--
Norbert Kondla
Calgary, Alberta, Canada  (elevation 1060 metres asl)




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Norbert Kondla
Calgary, Alberta, Canada  (elevation 1060 metres asl)



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Norbert Kondla
Calgary, Alberta, Canada  (elevation 1060 metres asl)

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