Ouachita mountains 6/12 - 6/13/2021

[thejsonboss]

I made my way across the "mountain range" that spreads across Oklahoma and Arkansas. My first stop was the kiamachi river in la Flore co. OK. Collecting here was great but I walked out with about 20 ticks on my legs of varying sizes. I would not go without permethrin. I had to really work to find the metalmarks, jumping across streams and climbing through semi open woods to find ragwort.

P. Byssus - 1
P. Verna - 3 (little glasswing)
W. Otho (southern broken dash)
P. Zabulon
E. Clarus (silver spot sk)
T. Pylades (no cloudyw)
C. Borealis - 4 (no metalmark)
C. Neglecta (summer azure)
C. Comyntas (eastern tailed blue)
S. Melinus
S. Liparops - 2 (striped HS)
P. Tharos (pearl cres)
J. Coenia (common buck)
V. Virginiensis (am. Lady)
M. Cymela (little wood s)
L. Anthedon (no pearly eye)
P. Glaucus (tiger s)
P. Sennae (cloudless)

Next I made my way to Scott Co. AR to look for Dianas and martialis. I was unsuccessful finding the latter, but found a healthy number of the former. I was however unsuccessful catching the females 🙄🙄🙄 but got a good set of A1 males.

S. Diana - 5m 2f
C. Nycteis (silver checkersp)
C. Gorgone
P. Tharos
V. Atlanta (red adm)
V. Virginiensis
E. Clarus
E. Horatius (Horace dw)
E. Baptisiae (indigo dw)
E. Lyciades (hoary edge)
E. Clarus
T. Pylades
P. Verna
C. Comyntas - so abundant there were clouds of them at every puddle. Neglecta may have also been mixed in
L. Anthedon
M. Cymela
P. Sennae
N. Iole (dainty s)


The next day (6/13) was much tougher going. I stopped by Rick Evans wma in SW Arkansas. For some reason I got so hot here all I could do was sit in the car with the ac blasting and stare at coneflowers. Sulphurs were very abundant here. A couple of Diana but they would not stop flying around the woods. I took a few swipes at the females as they flew across the road and again caught none. I didn't do much except sit in the woods here so not many species to report.
I then went to what was a good spot in new Boston tx about 8 years ago, but is apparently now very overgrown. I tried to find the pond with buttonbush that used to be there among the overgrowth but I soon regretted it as the heat exhausted me and I found myself surrounded by thorns. Among the high bushes I found a few thistles with two byssus skippers, which were my target. I decided to call it a day after that.

At the blacklight 6/12 in Norman, AR I had
Luna moth
Rosy maple
Waved sphinx
Laurel sphinx
Catocala andromedae
Catocala innubens
Datana diffidens
Nadata gibbosa
Hypoprepia fucosa
Haploa contigua

[gaspipe]

Great report and thanks for common names!!! Best time to get get female Diana is when the milkweed flowers then you have a nonmoving target . After that they get easier after thistles bloom but the hind wings start to get nicked as they walk around laying eggs as summer goes on , but by then the males are toast . For me the only way I’ve bagged females in late June after they emerge is by a lucky wild swipe or at mid morning when they sit on dirt roads to warm up.

[trehopr1]

I have only collected one female Diana myself whilst on a trip to West Virginia.
I do not have them anywhere near my area.
I do recall virtually all of the males which I encountered at that time were already toast and I did see numerous ones of them...
I too like the additional common names added as there are simply too many scientific names to remember (which change periodically). Also, I first learned the common names of things as a child through my early insect books which tended to list the scientific ones at the back of the book !