Kont kemxejn naqas fil-pubblikazzjoni ta' sfidi regolari, allura nipprova nkabbar il-pass. Min jista’ jgħidli xi ħaġa dwar dan il-farfett? L-aktar li qed tieħu huwa li huwa min-nofs tal-Punent tal-Istati Uniti. Kreditu għall-familja, ġeneru jew speċi u redikoli kreditu għas-sottospeċi u minn fejn ikun.
Euphydryas anicia cloudcrofti
Ted irnexxielu pjuttost malajr jidentifika dan il-lep bi preċiżjoni isturdament għal ħanfusa-guy. Intom lep-ers li taqraw dan għandek tiddendel raskom fil-mistħija talli ma taqbiżx fuqha aktar malajr.
Kif imsemmi fil-kummenti, dan il-farfett itir biss madwar il-belt resort ta’ Cloudcroft, New Mexico fil-Muntanji Sacramento. Għal snin sħaħ ilhom jiġġieldu biex dan ikun elenkat bħala speċi fil-periklu, iżda fallew f'kull tentattiv (l-aktar rifjut reċenti kien Awwissu 2009). Il-belt tiddependi kważi esklussivament fuq ski resorts tax-xitwa u l-iżviluppaturi għamlu ġlieda b'suċċess kontra l-protezzjoni. Iż-żona kollha tinsab fi ħdan il-Lincoln National Forest, iżda għalqu biss iż-żona għall-ġbir tal-farfett, mhux żvilupp. Meta jistaqsu lis-servizz tal-foresti dwar dan il-farfett huma jistqarru b'mod inekwivoku li ċ-checkspot huwa fil-periklu (minkejja li mhux). Naturalment ma jridux li tiġborha – imma jekk offriet ftit miljuni biex tiżviluppa l-ħabitat tagħha, dik hija storja differenti.
I’m going with one of the checkerspots – familja Nymphalidae, genus Euphydryas. I’m not very good with the species, but with all that orange and very little whitish coloring I’m guessing U. anicia capella from the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains.
Great guess – but not quite. You do get credit for getting the species right though!
oh, well that wouldn’t be Euphydryas anicia cloudcrofti (Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly) from central New Mexico, would it? jekk iva, that’s a great shot of a rare subspecies. Jekk le, ukoll, these checkerspot subspecies are too difficult for me. 🙂
Iva, it is! I should make these harder… or stop posting images I’ve already uploaded to Butterflies of America! għandha. Għalkemm, kudos for getting this correct, still required digging through the anicia subs, these checkerspots can be a headache to ID.
I was there last summer and got a few great shots of this rare butterfly. It was actually pretty common along forest roads around the town. Within an hour I saw 4-5 puddling – made for a pretty easy photo-op.
Ha! Attwalment, I didn’t find the photo at BofA until after I’d made my 2nd guess, honest. Those points are mine! Attwalment, I was using BugGuide when I settled on anicia – I wasn’t sure about it but chose it because of the very orange capella subspecies. When you confirmed anicia it was then easier to search for other subspecies. I came across a photo of cloudcrofti on a FWS conservation plan document and it was a dead ringer.
Finding species/subspecies of highly restricted geographical occurrence is one of the best things about this business (taxonomists arguments about validity notwithstanding)! There must be something special about the Cloudcroft area – there is a buprestid beetle known only from that area that I looked for once (unsuccessfully).