Observation date: May 30, 2021
Submitted by: topper72
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: Mostly sunny, very slight breeze, temp. in upper 60s F. One seen in recovering burn area (intense large fire 2011) at an elevation of 8575 feet. Referencing Glasberg and article by S. Cary, the amount of orange present on the dorsal HW in the false eye area on this female indicates it is most likely the Eastern variety versus the Western. I am guessing this is Eastern Tailed-blue. First tailed-blue seen this season- late due to extreme drought conditions.
Status: Resident
Verified by: stevecary
Verified date: June 14, 2021
Coordinator notes: Topper, I am having to eat my words on last year's blog. The amount of orange is pretty variable, it turns out, and not sufficient on its own to push this over to Eastern. that's my bad. anything over 6000 ft elevation is presumed to be Western Tailed-blue unless there is persuasive evidence otherwise. In this case, there is not. I'd like to add the top image to Butterflies of NM web book. If that's OK with you, please send it separately. thanks!!
