Observation date: June 12, 2021
Submitted by: guy_incognito
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: It was a dotted blue type. There were lots of dotted blue types on the Kennedy's Buckwheat, but couldn't see the upper wing on the vast majority. The individual in flight is the one on the right in the second picture.
EDIT: Just read about the blues at Baldwin Lake, but not sure what the upper wings look like on those. http://socalbutterflies.com/lycaenidae_html/enoptes_baldwin.htm
But it sounds like both Bauer's and Dammer's are at Baldwin? "The Baldwin Lake area and nearby Coxey Meadow support
one of the few known populations of verner blue butterfly (Euphilotes baueri vernalis) (Stephenson
and Calcarone 1999). The endemic Dammer’s blue butterfly (E. enoptes dammersi) is found only at
Baldwin Lake and Arrastre Flat, where it is associated with the southern mountain buckwheat, and
Arrastre Creek, where it is associated with Eriogonum davidsonii (Stephenson and Calcarone 1999). " https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/forests/southern_california_forests/pdfs/hotspots.pdf
However, looking directly at the Stephenson reference doesn't seem to indicate that Bauer's is a Baldwin (pg 213). https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr172/psw_gtr172.pdf
I haven't been able to track down the original Pratt article from 1998.
Status: Resident
Verified by: Ken Davenport
Verified date: June 13, 2021
Coordinator notes: The only reason I know what this is is because I have collected these near that Preserve. They are not Bauer's Blue and the idea these are a dammersi was rejected by Paul Opler. This issue was a topic of conversations when I wrote the recent update covering all Southern California butterflies, available for free download from the Colorado State Gillette Museum online web site-Ken Davenport.
