Speyeria callippe ( Boisduval, 1852 )

Dunford, James C., 2009, Taxonomic overview of the greater fritillary genus Speyeria Scudder and the atlantis - hesperis species complexes, with species accounts, type images, and relevant literature (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), Insecta Mundi 2009 (90), pp. 1-74 : 22-23

Speyeria callippe ( Boisduval, 1852)

( Figure 5D , 16 )

Argynnis callippe Boisduval, 1852: 302 .

Speyeria callippe (Boisduval) [ dos Passos and Grey 1945a].

Common names. Callippe fritillary, callippe silverspot.

Type deposited. Lectotype (male) designated by dos Passos and Grey (1947) at National Museum of Natural History ( Figure 16 ).

Type locality. California. Defined by dos Passos and Grey (1947) as San Francisco, San Francisco County, California. Although it is now extinct in San Francisco, it likely once flew on the slopes on Mt. Davidson where Viola pedunculata has been recorded (Emmel et al. 1998a).

Type label data. “ Calippe. Boisd. Calif. Californie., Argynnis Callippe Boisduval type; EX MUSAEO Dris. BOISDUVAL; Oberthur Collection; Type callipe Bdv. a/c Hofer; Barnes Collection” .

Identification, taxonomy, and variation. There are several geographic forms (approximately 19 described subspecies) with variable coloration on the wings ( Moeck 1957; Howe 1975; Warren 2005) in the callippe complex. Adult wingspan is 47-74 mm. The dorsal wing surface is generally red-brown to light tawny, depending on geographic location. Dark markings are evenly spaced, providing a distinctive checkered or lattice appearance. The ground coloring on the ventral surface varies from reddish to yellowish brown, sometimes with heavy black scaling. The discal area on the underside is commonly powdered by with green scales (especially in the Plains, Rockies, and Great Basin) but may be brown (California and southwest Oregon) in some forms, with spots on the ventral hindwings large and usually silver but may be unsilvered (California and southwest Oregon) in some forms. A general trend in wing patterning and coloration is apparent west and east of the Cascade-Sierra Nevada Mountains. Populations east of the mountains have tan, brown, or red-brown ventral ground coloration with either silvered or unsilvered spots and a tan submarginal band in the ventral hindwing. Populations in western North America vary from pale green to deep blue-green ventrally either without a submarginal band or only a narrow yellowgreen band. Speyeria coronis may be confused with S. callippe (especially along the central California coast) but hindwing marginal spots on S. callippe are usually triangular shaped and bordered inwardly only by a thin dark border; other Speyeria , including S. coronis , usually bear differently shaped spots and darker, wider borders. The pale median and submarginal spots show through the wings above (termed ‘spangles’) on S. callippe , especially in females along the Pacific Coast. These spangles provide a two-toned appearance when viewed from above. Geographical variation for S. callippe has been studied ( Hovanitz 1943; Sette 1962; Arnold 1983, 1985). Hovanitz (1943) studied California populations and hypothesized that racial or genealogical relationships are more or less the same, and that subspecific taxa there do not provide clear evidence of divergence. He did recognize several main divisions of the callippe complex, namely those in the South Coastal Range, western Sierra Nevadas, and a southern zone of intergradation along the Piute Mountains and Sierra Madre range. Sette (1962) examined the variation of silvering in the southern zone of intergradation and hypothesized that there may be a “silvering-gene” present during the pupal stage under optimal environmental conditions, and speculated guanine was the substance responsible for silvering in S. callippe . Arnold (1985, 1983) examined the wing characters of 16 subspecies using 75 principle component analyses and graph clustering techniques to describe variation and suggested reducing the number of subspecies to three (but see Hammond 1986). Larvae are mottled brown and black with black (or paler) dorsal stripes and many orange to yellow or black branching spines. Eggs are pale yellow, becoming pinkish brown. Pupae are whitish, with black markings similar to S. nokomis . Range. Forms of S. callippe occur from the Pacific Coast from southeastern British Columbia south to northwestern Baja California, northeast through the Great Basin and Rockies to southern Manitoba, and to western parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, and central Colorado.

Life history. Speyeria callippe occurs in a variety of habitat types, including grasslands, oak and pine woodlands, sagebrush, chaparral, valleys, brushy hillsides, and prairie ridges. Dry-habitat Speyeria species such as S. callippe delay laying most of their eggs until late August or September and they usually oviposit in places where the violets have dried up for the year. Eggs are laid mainly under shrubs where violets will appear the following season ( Scott 1986b). In most areas males patrol hilltops to wait for females, but in California males tend to patrol grasslands and avoid hillsides ( Opler and Wright 1999). Scott (1975) noted that in the Front Range of Colorado, males patrol close to the ground all day and occasionally perch on shrubs. Populations with green and brown ventral hindwings interbreed along the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. Flight period is from April through September, and in many areas, these are the first greater fritillaries flying each season. Speyeria callippe callippe is listed as endangered and nearly extinct in coastal northern California (i.e., San Francisco Bay Area) by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( Hammond and McCorkle 1984, Connor et al. 2002).

Larval host plants. Viola beckwithii , V. douglasii , V. nuttallii , V. pedunculata , V. purpurea , V. purpurea quercetorum ( Hammond 1995; Robinson et al. 2002); Artemisia (Compositae) (see Durden 1965)-this was very likely an oviposition site (Jonathan Pelham, pers. comm.).

Adult food resources. Thistles ( Pyle 1995). Warren (2005) reported that S. callippe visit a variety of flowers, and some subspecies can be observed congregating by the hundreds on Apocynum flowers.

Figures

Figure 5. Habitus images of adult Speyeria spp., each image with dorsal (left) and ventral (right) view. A) Speyeria diana, male. B) Speyeria diana, female. C) Speyeria zerene gunderi (Comstock), male; Nevada. D) Speyeria callippe harmonia dos Passos and Grey, male; Nevada. E) Speyeria mormonia artonis (Edwards), male; Nevada. Images by James C. Dunford.

Figure 16-20. Type images for Speyeria spp.; dorsal, ventral, and label images. 16) Speyeria callippe lectotype, described as Argynnis callippe, male, NMNH. 17) Speyeria egleis neotype, described as Argynnis egleis, female, NMNH. 18) Speyeria adiaste lectotype, described as Argynnis Adiante, female, NMNH. This specimen is not recognized as the name bearing type. 19) Speyeria adiaste lectotype, described as Argynnis Adiaste, male, CMNH. 20) Speyeria atlantis atlantis lectotype, described as Argynnis Atlantis, male, CMNH. Images 16-18 by Robert Robbins; 19-20 by James C. Dunford.