unidentified male Satyrium hairstreak
posted 10/11/14 - This ID has had me stumped ever since June. Both photo series are of the same individual as I turned around to capture different lighting angles. It would have been great to get a photo of the topside (dorsal) wing color and abdomen to help ID, but that didn't happen. As I was asking Chris his thoughts as to what it was, he forgot it was simply sitting on my finger and it promptly flew away into the sun when he made a sudden movement. That's the handicap I've given myself this year by not collecting specimens. Honestly, I didn't want to deal with lugging around a net and killing jar, pinning and spreading, and not to mention permit paperwork. I think scrutinizing photos has been a good learning tool for me, but as evidenced here, it's not perfect.
I sent one of the lighter-colored pics around to my trusted butterfly posse (I hope they don't mind me calling them that), and I received a surprising variety of answers. Their suggestions for ID are as follows (links open in new windows for photo comparisons):
I also trust Butterflies of America (BOA) more than self-reported ID sites like BugGuide and Flickr, which both have a few ID errors. Even UC Irvine's Butterflies of Orange County has what I believe is a gold-hunter's in the middle of hedgerows. These look-alike spp. are not well-illustrated in my field guides, so we're not alone in our uncertainty. Can you ID?
ps - After initially insisting it was a mt. mahogany because of how dark it was, I'm now leaning towards a hedgerow hairstreak, mainly because of the tailend patterning. There's a notable lack of any orange near the tails, which even if worn would have been an indication for gold-hunter's. Besides, the tails are too long to be a male gold-hunter's, I think. Oh, how do I know it's a male? The relief of the teardrop-shaped scent gland (stigma) can be seen in the middle of the hindwing in the shadowier photos.
ps - After initially insisting it was a mt. mahogany because of how dark it was, I'm now leaning towards a hedgerow hairstreak, mainly because of the tailend patterning. There's a notable lack of any orange near the tails, which even if worn would have been an indication for gold-hunter's. Besides, the tails are too long to be a male gold-hunter's, I think. Oh, how do I know it's a male? The relief of the teardrop-shaped scent gland (stigma) can be seen in the middle of the hindwing in the shadowier photos.
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