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126 Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
GENERAL NOTES
BUTTERFLIES OBSERVED IN SIECHE HOLLOW STATE PARK, SOUTH DAKOTA
Sieche Hollow's 887 acres, in Marshall and Roberts counties in northeastern South Dakota, were added to the South Dakota State Park system in 1971. The park is comprised of a very moist wooded valley and one of the best examples of virgin tallgrass prairie remaining in the state. The picturesque valley is cut by a spring fed creek which runs the year around and has created a cool, lush, deciduous woodland entirely unlike the surrounding South Dakota plains. The preserved prairie stand is surrounded on three sides by the "U" shaped valley and probably is very similar to what most of the entire region looked like before the sod was turned by early settlers.
I visited Sieche Hollow four times during the summer of 1972 and found it a very interesting locality for butterflies. A list of the species that I observed there seems worth noting because it is a unique locality and there is only one published local list of South Dakota butterflies (Truman 1896, Ent. News 7: 289-299; 8: 27-29). Possibly my publication will encourage others to do further collecting there.
A list of the species that I observed at Sieche Hollow on four collecting trips (late May, mid-June, early August and mid-August 1972) follows:
Papilionidae
Papilio polyxenes Fabricius. Prairie area, scarce. Papilio glaucus Linnaeus. Woodland, not uncommon.
Pieridae
Pieris rapae (Linnaeus).
Colias eurytheme Boisduval.
Colias philodice Godart.
Euchloe olympia (Edwards). One worn example in wooded area, May.
Danaidae Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus).
Satyridae
Lethe anthedon (Clark). Wooded area, scarce. Euptychia cymela (Cramer). Woodland, common. Coenonympha tullia Muller. Scarce, prairie in July. Cercyonis pegala (Fabricius). Prairie, late summer. Oeneis uhleri (Reakirt). Prairie, uncommon in May.
Nymphalidae
Asterocampa celtis (Boisduval & Le Conte). Woodland, uncommon. Limenitis archippus (Cramer). Several along road into park. Limenitis arthemis (Drury). Common in woodland and edge of prairie. Population here is hybrid L. arthemis/astyanax. Vanessa atalanta (Linnaeus). Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus).
Nymphalis antiopa (Linnaeus). Several sight records, woodland. Polygonia comma (Harris). One example, woodland. Phyciodes tharos (Drury). Very common. Chlosyne nycteis (Doubleday). Scarce.
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Chlosyne gorgone (Hiibner). On prairie, May and August. Speyeria idalia (Drury). Very common on prairie, July and August. Speyeria cybele (Fabricius). Common. Speyeria aphrodite (Fabricius). Fairly common on prairie.
Lycaenidae
Harkenclenns titus (Fabricius). Prairie, not uncommon.
Feniseca tarquinius (Fabricius). Along stream bed, two examples, June.
Lycaena thoe Guerin-Meneville. Prairie area, scarce.
Lycaena xanthoides (Boisduval). Prairie area, very common.
Lycaena helloides (Boisduval). On prairie, uncommon, August.
Hemiargus isola (Reakirt). One example on prairie, August.
Lycaeides melissa (Edwards). Very common on prairie.
Everes comyntas (Godart). Common everywhere.
Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Doubleday). May, on the area where the prairie and woodland meet. This is probably the most surprising find here, the population appears to be different from both the eastern woodland ssp. couperi Grote and the ssp. oro which is found in the Black Hills of western South Dakota. It is not uncommon here.
Celastrina argiolus (Linnaeus). Woodland, scarce.
Complete records of skippers (Hesperiidae) were not kept. One species that I had particularly hoped to find on the prairie here, Hesperia dacotae (Skinner), was not seen. Hesperia uncas Edwards was not seen either but probably occurred on the prairie during July. Species of Hesperiidae that were encountered included Poanes hobomok (Harris), Polites coras (Cramer), Polites mystic (Scudder), Polites themistocles (Latreille), Hesperia pawnee Dodge, and Erynnis juvenalis (Fabricius).
John H. Masters, 5211 Southern Avenue, South Gate, California 90280.
A CORRECTION
Recent reply to my article entitled "Two New Thecla from the Continental United States" (J. Lepid. Soc, 28: 305) proves the statements regarding Chlorostrymon simaethis (Drury) to be not only false but a disaster to the literature. It has been pointed out to me that C. simaethis is widely distributed in the Antillean area and that the appropriate subspecific assignment to that found in Florida is currently under study by Mr. Steve Roman, Casselbury, Florida (pers. coram.). He discovered the species in that state in 1970. However, a check of past season summary reports in the News of the Lepidopterists' Society shows the record was not reported for Florida. The error is blamed on my overlooking several appropriate sources of literature on the fauna of the Antillies (which goes to show, no matter how small the article, a literature research should be thoroughly undertaken) and also a lack of inquiry and communication with individuals with access or personal records on the species involved in the article. It should also be noted that I am aware of the fact that Electrostrymon angelia angelia (Hewitson) is correctly spelled in that manner and not "angelica" as it appears in the article.
It is hoped this note will prevent future mistakes such as this from happening and perhaps promote a more fluid exchange of information between collectors and researchers alike.
Michael S. Fisher, 3744 South Granby Way, Denver, Colorado 80232.