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San Emigdio Blue (Plebejus emigdionis) is
an extremely rare butterfly found only in montane
desert regions of southern California from Inyo
County southwest through the Mojave Desert and
Southern Sierra Nevada to Los Angeles County. The
host plant for its caterpillar is four-winged
saltbush (shadscale) (Atriplex canescens). It is found
only in desert canyons where shadscale scrub
grows. Recently several parcels
of habitat in the Kern River
Valley where this rare species
was documented
have been plowed under by landowners. Audubon is
working diligently to provide alternative habitat
to prevent this species from being listed as
endangered or worse.
The foresight of Audubon and
its predecessor, The Nature Conservancy is
evident by the development of a desert restoration site on the Kern River Preserve nature
trail over 15 years ago. During the
2008 South Fork Butterfly count in
late April, 42 San Emigdio Blue
butterflies were found on the
restored site. "I
think it is really rewarding that this animal has
been found on a site staff and volunteers
replanted with native four-winged saltbush in 1993," said Reed Tollefson, Manager of the
Kern River Preserve.
Audubon is working to create new habitat on an
upland restoration area on our Sprague Ranch
addition off Fay Ranch Road. Our
Office & Field Assistant, Sandra Wieser is in charge of this project.
(You
can read about the progress on the site in our
spring newsletter).
"I have watched how important the Kern River
Preserve has become to the survival of this
species as rare habitats disappear around the
Kern River Valley," said Alison Sheehey.
"Learning about rare and common species that
exist in our backyards is so important because
plants or animals can disappear in the wink of an eye;
more often just
because you don't know they
are there."
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IDENTIFICATION FROM
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
Family: Gossamer-wing Butterflies (Lycaenidae)
- Subfamily: Blues
Identification: Wing span: 7/8 - 1 1/8
inches (2.2 - 2.9 cm).
Upperside of male pale blue with wide
orangish-brown
border; hindwing with faint orange band at outer
margin. Female brown fading to
blue near the thorax and
orange bands near outer margins. Underside of
both sexes white with many small black spots;
forewing postmedian band has 2 elongated spots.
Life history: Single
egg laid on four-wing saltbush leaves.
Caterpillars eat leaves and are tended
to by ants
who harvest honeydew from larvae. Older
caterpillars overwinter in the
soil.
Flight: Three flights from
April-September.
Habitat: Shadscale
scrub in desert canyons and near washes.
Range: Very rare and
local in southern California from Inyo
County south through the Mojave Desert, San
Joaquin Valley, Bouquet and Mint Canyons, and Los
Angeles County.
NatureServe Global Status: G3 - Very rare
or local throughout its range or found locally in
a restricted range (21 to 100 occurrences).
(Threatened throughout its range). |
