#343: Yet More Butterflies
A brand-new species of metalmarks and the second coming of the Sandia hairstreaks
I’ve been taking photos of the little black, orange, and white butterflies below for years. I originally knew them as Mormon metalmarks.
A few years ago, I learned that they were actually called Mexican (or maybe Sonoran) metalmarks. But then I read Steve Cary’s blog about a month ago and found out they have yet another, even newer, name: Apache metalmarks.1
The short form is that biologists in a wide variety of disciplines continue to learn, through DNA analysis, that similar-looking critters and plants are not necessarily the same species or, sometimes, even part of the same genus. That’s what happened here: DNA analysis determined there are a number of apparently identical metalmarks that are actually distinct species.2
Around the same time I ran into the metalmarks, a new brood of Sandia hairstreaks appeared. I do sometimes see more of them later in the spring, around mid to late May … but this year they showed up the last week of April.
They got to work creating new little butterflies right off the mark.3
As before, they’ve been out in larger numbers than usual. One of the really interesting things about this second coming is that I’ve been able to capture photos of them with different plants than I’m used to seeing them on. Threadleaf groundsel, for example, doesn’t usually bloom until well after March.4 And, while I’ve seen Sandia hairstreaks hanging out on grass before, it’s always been in its winter form, dried and straw-like.
I’ve never heard of a third brood of Sandia hairstreaks, but I won’t be at all surprised if another batch shows up this year. Fingers crossed.
I’ve mentioned Steve Cary before; I think of him as Mr. Butterfly New Mexico and have learned most of what I know about butterflies from him. You can read his comments about Apache metalmarks starting about halfway down this page, just below the bar graphs.
So how do I know these are Apache metalmarks? Because of where I encountered them (on La Luz Trail, in the Sandias).
Most years I don’t notice even one mating pair of Sandia hairstreaks; this year I’ve seen three.
Come to think of it, threadleaf groundsel is blooming earlier than usual this year too.
Love the irridescent colors you capture. Thank you!
A plethora of butterflies in the Sandias this spring! Thank you, Lisa, for seeing them and sharing them with your subscribers, of which I am one grateful one.