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Volume 57, Number 3
249
----------. 2001. Influence mosquito control chemicals on butterflies
(Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Hesperiidae) of the lower Florida
Keys. J. Lepid. Soc. 55 (1):8-14. ----------. In press. Butterfly conservation and hostplant fluctuations:
the relationship between Strymon acis bartrami and Anaea
troglodytafloridalis on Croton linearis in Florida. Hoi. Lepid. 8
(2):53-57. ----------. 2003 Lifestyles of the scaled and beautiful: the Florida
leafwing. Amer. Butterflies. 11 (1):36-41. Schwartz, A. 1987. The butterflies of the Lower Florida Keys.
Milwaukee Pub. Mus. Contrib. in Bio. and Geo., No. 73.
34 pp. Schwarz, K. A., R. A. Worth & T. C. Emmel. 1995. Conservation
of two threatened south Florida butterflies and their host plant
(Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae, Nymphatidae). Hoi. Lepid. 3:59-61. Smith, D. S., L. D. Miller & J. Y. Miller. 1994. The butterflies
of the West Indies and South Florida. Oxford Univ. Pr., Oxford.
264 pp., 32 pi.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 57(3), 2003, 249-250
The status of Edith's Copper, Lijcaena editha (Mead), in Canada has been a matter of conjecture for some time, particularly in Alberta. Bowman (1934, 1951) included this species in his annotated lists of Alberta Lepidoptera, giving High River as the locality without further comment. This represented the only known Canadian record of Edith's Copper; its known range is restricted to the western US, from California to Montana eastward to Wyoming and Colorado (Scott 1986). Subsequent works (e.g., Ferris & Brown 1981, Scott 1986) also indicated this species as part of the Alberta fauna, presumably based on Bowman's list. Bird et al. (1995) were unable to authenticate this record and rejected it. Layberry et al. (1998) also treated this as a dubious record, and did not include L. editha as part of the Canadian fauna.
While curating the butterflies in the University of Alberta Strickland Museum collection in 2001, BCS discovered the putative High River specimen in a separate teaching collection, where it had gone unnoticed these many years. It is a male specimen, missing the left antenna but otherwise in excellent condition, with a label reading "High River, Alta / Baird" (Fig. 1). "High River" and "Baird" are handwritten on a printed Donald Mackie label, and "Edmonton" and "D. Mackie" are crossed out (Fig. 1). Comparison of the handwriting to other Donald Mackie labels shows that the specimen was labelled and likely pinned by Mackie after he received the unpinned specimen from Baird. A small amount of glue is visible on the ventral thorax and on the pin, further suggesting that the specimen
Worth, R. A., K. A. Schwarz & T. C. Emmel. 1996. Notes on the biology of Strymon acis bartrami and Anaea troglodyta flori-dalis in south Florida. Hoi. Lepid. 3:52-65.
Mark H. Salvato, University of Florida, Department of Entomology and hematology\ EO. Box 110620, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA; Email: anaea_99@yahoo.co7n and Michael K. Hennessey, United States Department of Agriculture, APHIS, PPQ, Center for Plant Health Science and Technology, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606-5202, USA; Email: mike. k. hennessey@aphis. usda. gov
Received for publication 20 September 2002; revised, and, accepted. 18 April 2003.
was not pinned fresh. Donald Mackie made extensive Lepidoptera collections, primarily from the Edmonton region, in the early to mid-1920s, and the specimen was likely either sent or given to him by Baird. Thomas Baird came to High River from Woodstock, Ontario in about 1896, and worked there for many years as a cobbler. He was an ardent and versatile collector of all groups of insects, though he appears to have been particularly partial to Diptera. F. H. W. Dod, in his series of "Further notes on Alberta Lepidoptera" (Dod 1914, 1915a, b) made frequent reference to Baird s collections. Among the moths that Baird collected, especially at light, were a number of taxa that were new to science.
The precise location where the High River specimen was collected is impossible to determine, but there is no reason to believe it was not collected in the general vicinity of the town of High River (50°35/N, 113°52/W). Suitable Canadian Zone valley bottom wet meadow habitat that L. editha is reported to frequent (Scott 1986) occurs in the Rocky Mountain foothills west of High River, and it is entirely possible that the specimen originated there. Other butterfly species collected by Baird and labeled as "High River" are restricted to montane habitats rather than the prairie habitat found at High River, suggesting Baird named his collection localities to the nearest major settlement, as did many early collectors.
Although it is possible that this specimen is mislabeled, there is no evidence to suggest this. Furthermore, there are no accounts of, or insect specimens
EDITH'S COPPER, LYCAENA EDITHA (LYCAENIDAE), CONFIRMED FOR CANADA
Additional key words: Thomas Baird, Alberta.
250
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Fig. 1. Specimen representing the only comfirmed Canadian record otLycaena editha (Mead) (ventral view).
collected by, either Baird or Mackie to suggest they collected in the western U.S. (within the main range of editha) or exchanged specimens with other collectors. Lycaena editha is present in Glacier Co., Montana just south of Waterton National Park (Ferris & Brown 1981) and attempts to locate populations of this species in the province should be concentrated in the Waterton to Crowsnest area (Bird et al. 1995) in July and August, during L. editha s flight period (Scott 1986). Since there is no evidence to suggest that this specimen was not collected in the vicinity of High River, Alberta, Ediths Copper should be added to
both the Alberta and Canadian butterfly faunal treatments.
Charley Bird kindly provided biographical information on Thomas Baird. We thank Norbert KondJa for confirming the specimen identification, and Danny Shpeley and Felix Sperling of the University of Alberta Strickland Entomology Museum for providing access to the specimen collections. Page charges for this note were funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant to F.A.H. Sperling.
Literature Cited
Bird, C. D., G. J. Hilchie, N. G. Kondla, E. M. Pike & F. A. SPERLING. 1995. Alberta butterflies. Provincial Museum Alberta, Edmonton. 349 pp.
Bowman, K. 1934. Annotated checklist of the macrolepidoptera of Alberta, additions and corrections. Canad. Entomol. 66:131-132.
Bowman, K. 1951. An annotated list of the Lepidoptera of Alberta. Can.]. Zool. 29:121-165.
DOD, F. H. W. 1914. Further notes on Alberta Lepidoptera Canad. Entomol. 46:93-403.
----------. 1915a. Further notes on Alberta Lepidoptera, with description of a new species. Canad. Entomol. 47:1-8, 33-42.
1915b. Further notes on Alberta Lepidoptera. Canad. En-
tomol. 47:122-134.
Ferris, C. D. & F. M. Brown. 1981. Butterflies of the Rocky Mountain states. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma. 442 pp.
Layberry, R. A., P. W. Hall & J. D. Lafontaine. 1998. The butterflies of Canada. University of Toronto Press. 280 pp.
Scott, J. A. 1986. The butterflies of North America: a natural history and field guide. Stanford University Press, Stanford. 583 pp.
Gary G. Anweiler and B. Christian Schmidt, Strickland Entomological Museum, Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada.
Received for publication 26 November 2002; revised and, accepted 29 April 2003.