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Volume 29, Number 3
177
AMBLYSCIRTES CAROLINA AND A. REVERSA (HESPERIIDAE) IN MISSISSIPPI AND GEORGIA1
Bryant Mather2 213 Mt. Salus Drive, Clinton, Mississippi 39056
Dos Passos (1964) listed "form reversa Jones, 1926" under Amblys-cirtes Carolina (Skinner), 1892. In doing so, he followed Evans (1955). Freeman (1973) wrote "Carolina seems to be confined to the North Carolina-Virginia area," and "Reversa has long been considered to be a synonym of Carolina or at most a form. I believe that actually it is a distinct species due to morphological differences . . . There arc also slight differences in the genitalia. This species ranges farther south than Carolina being found in Georgia as well as in the same areas as Carolina."
This note reports the rearing of reversa in Georgia and the occurrence of Carolina in both Georgia and Mississippi and of reversa in Mississippi.
Harris (1972) listed records for both Carolina and reversa from the Piedmont region and for reversa from the Georgia coastal plain. Harris mentioned that reversa had been reared by John Symmes. In view of the new status assigned to reversa by Freeman (1973) and discussions with J. R. Heitzman, I wrote to Mr. Harris, custodian of the collection of the late Mr. Symmes, who was kind enough to obtain and supply more information and to permit the results to be published.
In 1963, from one batch of ova, Symmes reared at least 17 adults of reversa that are now in his collection. The locality was Long Island Creek, off Harris Trail, Fulton Co., Georgia. The food plant was Arundi-naria tecta (Maiden cane). The adults included 7 males that emerged: 8 July (1), 10 July (2), 12 July (1), 17 July (1), 28 July (2); and 10 females: 14 June (1), 25 June (1), 26 June (1), 28 June (3), 30 June (1), 8 July (1), and 10 July (2). The Symmes collection includes 6 wild-caught specimens, from the same locality, as follows: 4 May 1963 (1 $ ), 15 July 1955 (2 8 $), 12 May 1959 (1 9 ), 20 May 1961 (1 9 ), and 5 July 1962 (1 9 ). As noted by Harris (1972), Carolina has been known from Fulton Co. since 1910; the fact that Symmes' rearing produced only reversa tends to confirm Freeman's conclusion that reversa and Carolina are not conspecific.
Mather & Mather (1958) knew of only a single specimen of Carolina
1 Contribution No. 305, Bureau of Entomology, Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Gainesville, Florida 32601.
2 Research Associate, Florida State Collection of Arthropods, Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Gainesville.
178
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
Fig. 1. Distribution of Amblyscirtes Carolina (#) and A. reversa (A) *n Mississippi.
from Mississippi, taken at Brownsville, Hinds Co. on 2 Sept. 1957 by M. & E. Roshore. A second specimen was reported (Mather & Mather, 1959) taken by the same collectors at the same locality on 15 June 1958. Now 25 specimens of Carolina and 16 of reversa are known from Mississippi. The additional records of Carolina and the records of reversa are as follows:
A. Carolina Skinner
Claiborne Co.: Rocky Springs, 2 April 67 (1) (M. & E. Roshore), 16 Aug. 70 (1) (B. Mather). Lowndes Co.: Columbus, 10 June 67 (1 9 ) (Macdonald Fulton). Grenada Co.: Grenada, 23 Aug. 70 (2 $ $ ), 17 June 71 (1 $) (Charles Bryson). Tishomingo Co.: Haynes Lake, 15 April 72 (1 $ ) (John Bryson); Mt. Woodall, 15 April 72 (1 $ ) (Charles Bryson)* Lee Co.: Tombigbee State Park, 1 April 73 (1 $) (John Bryson); 5 April 73 (1 9 ) (Charles Bryson); 17 Aug. 73 (1 $, 1 9 ) (Ricky Patterson). Oktibbeha Co.: Craig Springs, 31 July 73 (1 $), 8 Aug. 73 (4 $ $, 2 9 9 ), 9 Aug. 73 (1 $,2 9 9) (Charles Bryson); Dorman Lake, 2 Aug. 73 (1 $ ) (Charles Bryson).
A. reversa Jones
Harrison Co.: Biloxi, 14 June 64 (1) (R. & B. Taylor) (determined by J. R.
Heitzman); Big Biloxi Recreation Area, 26 Aug. 70 (6), 8 April 71 (2), 9 April
71 (1), 10 April 71 (2) (Rick Kergosien). Hancock Co.: Darwood, 24 June 71 (2 $ $, 1 9 ), 8 Aug. 71 (1 $ ) (Rick Kergosien).
These records suggest that, in Mississippi, reversa occurs on the Gulf coastal plain and Carolina in the interior of the state (Fig. 1). A. reversa
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has been taken in April, June and August; Carolina in all months April through September, except May.
Acknowledgments
The assistance of the following is acknowledged with appreciation: Mr. Lucien Harris, Jr. for data from the collection of John Symmes; Mr. J. R. Heitzman who called my attention to the significance of Symmes' data; Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Roshore, Mr. and Mrs. R. T. Taylor, Jr.; Mr. Rick Kergosien, Professor Macdonald Fulton, and Mr. Charles T. Bryson, who provided Mississippi records; and Mr. Charles T. Bryson for compiling the Mississippi data.
Literature Cited
dos Passos, C. F. 1964. A synonymic list of the Nearctic Lepidoptera. Lepid.
Soc. Memoir No. 1, 145 p. Evans, W. H. 1955. A catalogue of the American Hesperiidae indicating the
classification and nomenclature adopted in the British Museum. Part IV.
Hesperiinae and Megathyminae. London: British Museum. 449 p. Freeman, H. A. 1973. A review of the Amhlyscirtes with the description of a
new species from Mexico (Hesperiidae). J. Lepid. Soc. 27: 40-57. Harris, L., Jr. 1972. Butterflies of Georgia. University of Oklahoma Press.
362 p. Mather, B. & K. Mather. 1958. The butterflies of Mississippi. Tulane Stud.
Zool. 6: 63-109. ----------. 1959. The butterflies of Mississippi, Supplement No. 1. J. Lepid. Soc.
13: 71-72.