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Volume 28, Number 3
253
A PRELIMINARY CHECKLIST OF THE BUTTERFLIES OF KENTUCKY1
Charles V. Covell, Jr.
Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40208
Kentucky has been one of the more poorly studied states with regard to its insect fauna. Until recently very little had been published on the Lepidoptera of the "Bluegrass State," except for the many descriptions of new Microlepidoptera by V. T. Chambers of Covington (near Cincinnati, Ohio). The most recent state list of butterflies was that of Wheat (1908) [1909], which was poorly annotated and which included only 65 species. Before that, Hattie Warner published two nearly identical lists (1894, 1895), the first with 60 species and the second with 61. All three of these early lists were based on specimens in the collection of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, Lexington.
While Kentucky records are mentioned in various broader works on North American Lepidoptera, the state seems to be a blank on the distribution maps of most faunal and taxonomic publications. A few sources of information include more local coverages: Cook (1948) wrote of spring collecting in his area, and published the first record of Erora laeta from Kentucky. Merritt (1948) published the most exhaustive and complete list to that time, treating the fauna of Jefferson County (which includes Louisville). His work includes 63 species from that county, plus 6 more from within 100 miles. Records from an unpublished Master's thesis by D. K. Weniger (1946) augmented his own as source material. Covell (1969) provided a pre-impoundment list of one weekend's collecting in lowlands of Trigg Co. which are now beneath the waters of Lake Barkley.
Additional printed information is to be found in the mimeographed "Club Notes" of the now-defunct Moth and Butterfly Club, which existed from 1946 to 1955. H. O. Ladd of Elizabethtown and James Unseld of Gravel Switch included some reports of Kentucky butterflies they had observed and collected. Finally, one may consult reports in the Field Season Summary of the Lepidopterists' Society for the years 1948-1952 and 1959-1972 (except 1962). Major contributors to these summaries include Carl Cook, James R. Merritt, Burt L. Monroe, Jr., Ralph Beebe, J. B. Wood, and myself.
Since arriving at the University of Louisville in 1964, one of my projects
1 University of Louisville Contributions in Biology No. 165 (New Series).
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has been to prepare a thorough annotated checklist of all Kentucky Lepidoptera. So far, of the more than 1350 species recorded from the "Bluegrass State" in my card file, only 123 are butterflies. It is the purpose of this paper to make known the species I know to have been collected or observed in Kentucky, with hopes that those who know of additions to this list will help extend the number by submitting their records. The broader work will hopefully be ready for publication in the next year or so.
Another reason for publishing a butterfly list at this time is to end the confusion caused in the past by my circulating ditto-reproduced lists, occasionally revised, for the purpose of informing my colleagues of the known Kentucky butterflies. Some workers are desirous of having a published, up-to-date list to aid them in their revisionary and faunal studies of specific butterfly groups.
Although the contributions of recent collectors in Kentucky will be included in the larger study in preparation in connection with the new records for which they are responsible, I would like to thank the following for their cooperation in making this list possible: William R. Black, Jr., Annette F. Braun, Carl Cook, Carl C. Cornett, Charles V. Covell III, Charles J. Dempwolf, James K. Ettman, Greg Florence, Loran D. Gibson, Robert V. Gregg, James Harrod, Richard Henderson, L. C. Koehn, H. O. Ladd, James R. Merritt, Burt L. Monroe, Jr., Siegfried Scholz, J. A. Shields, James Tuttle, and J. B. and Lark Lynne Wood.
Nomenclature used here follows the 1964 dos Passos Synonymic List of the Nearctic Rhopalocera and its two later partial revisions, with a few other changes reflecting more recent articles changing nomenclature and taxonomic status (as with Lethe species, and the use of Cynthia). The only annotation used here is the asterisk placed before the names of species for which I have only one or two records, or for which there seem to be acceptable sight records. While data on any species of Kentucky butterflies will be most welcome, I would especially like to hear of captures of species either missing from the list, or indicated with the asterisk.
SUPERFAMILY HESPERIOIDEA
Family Hesperiidae
Ambliscirtes samoset (Scudder) Ambliscirtes aesculapius (Fabricius) Ambliscirtes vialis (Edwards) *Atrytonopsis hianna (Scudder) Euphyes vestris metacomet (Harris) Poanes hobomok (Harris) Poanes zabulon (Boisduval and LeConte)
Poanes viator (Edwards) Atrytone delaware (Edwards) Atalopedes campestris (Boisduval) Pompeius verna (Edwards) Wallengrenia otho egeremet (Scudder) Polites coras (Cramer) Polites themistocles (Latreille)
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Polites origenes (Fabricius)
*Hesperia metea Scudder Hesperia leonardus Harris Hylephila phyleus (Drury) Thymelicus lineola (Ochsenheimer) Ancyloxypha numitor (Fabricius) Lerema accius (Smith) Nostra Iherminier (Latreille) Pholisora catullus (Fabricius) Pyrgus communis (Grote) Erynnis icelus (Scudder and Burgess) Erynnis brizo (Boisduval and LeConte)
*Erynnis baptisiae (Forbes)
*Erynnis zarucco (Lucas)
*Erynnis funeralis ( Scudder and Burgess)
Erynnis martialis (Scudder)
Erynnis horatius (Scudder and Burgess)
Erynnis juvenalis (Fabricius)
Staphylus mazans hayhurstii (Edwards)
Thorybes bathyllus (Smith)
Thorybes pylades (Scudder)
Thorybes confusis Bell
Achalams lyciades (Geyer)
Autochton cellus (Boisduval and LeConte) *Urbanus proteus (Linnaeus)
Epargyreus clarus (Cramer)
SUPERFAMILY PAPILIONOIDEA
Family Papilionidae
Battus philenor (Linnaeus) *Battus polydamas (Linnaeus) Papilio polyxenes asterias Stoll Papilio cresphontes Cramer
Papilio glaucus Linnaeus Papilio troilus Linnaeus * Papilio palamedes Drury Graphium marcellus (Cramer)
Family Pieridae
Pieris protodice Boisduval and LeConte * Pieris virginiensis Edwards
Pieris rapae (Linnaeus)
Colias eurytheme Boisduval
Colias philodice Godart
Colias cesonia (Stoll)
Phoebis sennae eubule (Linnaeus) *Kricogonia lyside (Godart)
Eurema lisa Boisduval and LeConte Eurema nicippe (Cramer) Nathalis iole Boisduval Anthocaris midea Hiibner Euchloe olympia (Edwards)
Family Riodinidae Calephelis borealis (Grote and Robinson)
Family Lycaenidae
Harkenclenus titus mopsus (Hiibner)
Satyrium liparops strigosa (Harris)
Satyrium calanus falacer (Godart) *Satyrium caryaevorus (McDunnough)
Satyrium edwardsii (Saunders)
Satyrium acadia (Edwards)
Calycopis cecrops (Fabricius) *Callophrys irus (Godart)
Callophrys henrici (Grote and Robinson)
Callophrys augustinus croesioides Scudder
Callophrys niphon (Hiibner)
Callophrys gryneus (Hiibner)
Atlides halesus (Cramer)
*Eurystrymon Ontario (Edwards) Panthiades m-album (Boisduval and LeConte) Strymon melinus Hiibner
*Erora laeta (Edwards) Feniseca tarquinius (Fabricius) Lycaena thoe (Guerin-Meneville) Lycaena phlaeas americana Harris Everes comyntas (Godart) Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Doubleday) Celastrina argiolus pseudargiolus (Boisduval and LeConte)
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Family Libytheidae Libytheana bachmanii (Kirtland)
Family Nymphalidae
Anaea andria Scudder
Asterocampa celtis (Boisduval and Le-Conte)
Asterocampa clyton (Boisduval and Le-Conte) * Limenitis arthemis arthemis (Drury)
Limenitis arthemis astyanax (Fabricius)
Limenitis archippus (Cramer) *Anartia jatrophae(Johansson)
Vanessa atalanta (Linnaeus)
Cynthia virginiensis (Drury)
Cynthia cardui ( Linnaeus)
Junonia coenia (Hiibner) *Nymphalis van-album (Denis and Schif-fermuller)
Nymphalis milberti (Godart)
Nymphalis antiopa (Linnaeus)
Polygonia interrogationis (Fabricius) Polygonia comma (Harris)
*Polygonia fannus (Edwards) Polygonia progne (Cramer) Chlosyne nycteis (Doubleday)
*Chlosyne gorgone (Hiibner)
*Chlosyne harrisii (Scudder) Phyciodes tharos (Drury) Euphydryas phaeton ( Drury) Boloria toddi (Holland) Speyeria idalia (Drury) Speyeria diana (Cramer) Speyeria cybele (Fabricius)
*Speyeria aphrodite (Fabricius) Euptoieta claudia ( Cramer) Agraulis vanillae (Linnaeus)
Family Danaidae
Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus)
Lethe anthedon (Clark) *Lethe creola (Skinner) Lethe appalachia Chermock Euptychia gemma (Hiibner)
Family Satyridae
Euptychia hermes sosybius (Fabricius) Euptychia cymela (Cramer) Cercyonis pegala (Fabricius)
Literature Cited
Cook, C. 1948. Early spring collecting in Kentucky. Lepid. News 2: 22. Covell, C. V., Jr. 1969. Some pre-flood butterfly records from the Land Between
the Lakes. Ky. Nat. 23: 8-9, 2 figs. Merritt, J. R. 1948. List of the Butterflies of Jefferson County, Kentucky. Annals
Ky. Nat. Hist. 1: 27-32. Warner, H. H. 1894. Kentucky butterflies. Can. Entomol. 26: 289-291. ----------. 1895. A synopsis of the diurnal Lepidoptera of Kentucky. Dept. Zool. &
Entomol. of State College, Lexington, Ky. 42 p. Wheat, F. M. 1908 [1909]. The diurnal Lepidoptera of Kentucky with key for
their identification. Bull. State Univ. Ky. 1: iv + 173 p.