CA clearwing ~ 08/05/14 ~ Pinnacles

California clearwing / bee hawk moth nectaring on vinegar weed

Hemaris thetis (7855.1) nectaring on Trichostema lanceolatum
Lamiaceae

posted 08/15/14 - I've tried numerous times from late July to mid-August to get a clear picture of this fun bee mimic that hovers like a hummingbird.  Unfortunately, the CA clearwing moth usually finishes feeding at a flower the split second before my auto-focus sets, to then move around to the privacy of a bloom opposite the stalk to me.  It then becomes a game of ring around the odoriferous vinegar weed.  Sigh.  I end up smelling vinegar weed for the rest of my hike, too often from a carelessly dangled camera strap.  Ah, good times.  Smelly.  But, good.

For those not hip to the taxonomic tricks (like me), western Hemaris thetis was split off from eastern Hemaris diffinis (7855) in 2009.

photo series ~ 05/13/14-07/29/14 ~ Pinnacles National Park - west

woolly yerba santa, woolly Indian paintbrush, California buckwheat

Eriodictyon tomentosum, Castilleja foliolosa, Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum
Boraginaceae, Orobanchaceae, Polygonaceae
May 13, 2014 to July 29, 2014

Pinnacles National Park - west entrance

Can you see the rhythm of nature's clock?  Look how the paintbrush trades its colors with the CA buckwheat.  I started taking these pictures on a whim and have been pleasantly impressed by the sly seasonal color changes at Pinnacles.  When I parsed these 12 weekly photos into 2 sets every other week, it becomes apparent that the rate of change is not a constant.  Fascinating.

ps 09/10/14 - I changed the var. of CA buckwheat from polifolium to what I believe is the greener, more common one along the road.

Mylitta crescent ~ 07/25/14 ~ Sierra Valley

female Mylitta crescent nectaring on Canada thistle

female Phyciodes mylitta mylitta nectaring on Cirsium arvense

Asteraceae

Note the stronger contrast of the female underside (ventral) markings compared to the male Mylitta crescent.  The same can be said above (dorsal), too - see below.

female (brighter, ~middle of pic), male (more solid in color and at the bottom of the pic)
Mylitta crescent

Phyciodes mylitta mylitta

Melissa blue ~ 07/25/14 ~ Sierra Valley

male Melissa blue

Lycaeides melissa (aka Plebejus melissa)

female Melissa blue

Lycaeides melissa (aka Plebejus melissa)

I'm thrilled I was able to take a close look at Melissa blues, which were flying with look-alike acmon blues at Art's Sierra Valley site.  These are L. melissa melissa, but closer to home we might have L. melissa paradoxa.  I'm hoping to find Melissa in Monterey Co. (only an old historical record) and at Pinnacles in San Benito Co. (never been reported).  Years ago, I visited the Kitty Todd Preserve in northwest Ohio the year after they reintroduced the endangered Karner blue (L. melissa samuelis, aka Plebejus samuelis).  I remember it being sandy under oaks with plenty of lupine, so I'm thinking Fort Ord might be as good as any for potential Melissa habitat.  Who knows?  I'll definitely be taking a closer look at every acmon I think I see.

Given my proclivity to mainly get pictures of only the underside (ventral) wing surfaces, I attempted to determine sex based on the amount of fading of the orange spots towards the apex of the forewing, with females more heavily marked with orange.  However, I've been assured that this is not entirely reliable, and it's best to just look at overall ground color, with a bluish tinge for the males and a hint of brown for the females, a subtle difference compared to those same respective colors on the topside (dorsal).