western brown elfin on ceanothus ~ 03/24/14 ~ Bass Lake

western brown elfin on ceanothus

Callophrys augustinus (aka Incisalia augustinus iroides) on Ceanothus sp.

As I was trying to get pictures of the unusual-to-me ceanothus, she flew right into focus and sat there.  No nectaring, no laying eggs.  Guess she wanted her picture taken.  So I did.

buck brush

Ceanothus cuneatus var. cuneatus

Rhamnaceae

Now, back to the ceanothus.  Grrr.  I'm most familiar with the buck brush found at Pinnacles in San Benito Co., and it happens to be the last place I saw a western brown elfin.  C. cuneatus is the only sp. on their plant list, which seems odd to me considering Calflora has 82 records of native Ceanothus spp./var. (some are outdated, but still!).  At Pinnacles, the flowers are whiter, the leaves are shinier, and the stems are browner... and there's quite a bit of variation as I just noticed.  I think lots of people are confused about Ceanothus ID, myself included, and many online pictures are too inconsistent to be helpful.

OK, I'll admit, there's a part of me just wishing this to be a different sp.  I did drive over 3 hours, up the hills, suppressing awful memories of childhood car sickness every single time we visited the Sierras (ah, now I remember why I generally avoid the area like the plague).  I want to find something different, dang it!  I tried to convince myself that this is mountain whitethorn (Ceanothus cordulatus). However, it didn't particularly have any thorns, the bushes were taller than me (Jepson eFlora states C. cordulatus is generally < 1.5m), and the leaves are not 3-ribbed from base.  Anyone have a better guess?  Big bushes like these were blooming everywhere in open sunny areas.  It was really stunning.

Nelson's hairstreak and deer brush ~ 05/14/13 ~ Washington

Nelson's cedar hairstreak nectaring on deer brush

Callophrys gryneus nelsoni (aka Callophrys nelsoni, Mitoura gryneus nelsoni)

deer brush

Ceanothus integerrimus

Rhamnaceae

A desire to add new species to my virtual collection has pushed me to use pictures that are heading into the crappy photo category.  The first 2 photos above were taken an hour apart at different spots and are still pretty crappy.  I get frustrated when I just can't manage to get better pictures of what could be now-or-never shots.  I still worry that if I get a fancier camera, I'll spend too much attention attempting to get perfect pictures, instead of focusing on enjoying where I am.  Does that make sense?  It's kind of like how so many people are consumed by their cell phones that they completely neglect the perfectly companionable human sitting right next to them.  I don't want to be like that.

As I was looking back through my entries for hairstreaks or Ceanothus, I noticed how often I've posted various lepidoptera interacting with these ubiquitous bushes: nectaring as shown here, egg laying, larval host, perching.  Cool!  

As two final notes about the deer brush, it was easily the most prolific plant in bloom at Washington, and I noted how not-evergreen the leaves were compared to the Ceanothus found closer to home.

hedgerow hairstreak ~ 06/09/11 ~ Pinnacles

hedgerow hairstreak on buck brush

Satyrium saepium on Ceanothus cuneatus var. cuneatus
for more information click here , here, and here
Rhamnaceae

Often when I'm able to capture photos of butterflies, I get them on perches, mud-puddling, or nectaring. For whatever reason, I rarely get them on their reported host plant as shown above. I love the iridescence of the wings and the orange knobs at the end of the antennae.

silver-spotted tiger moth ~ 03/15/11 ~ Carmel Highlands

silver-spotted tiger moth (or nameless arctiid moth) feeding on California lilac
Lophocampa argentata (or Lophocampa sobrina) feeding on Ceanothus sp.
Rhamnaceae

It's always a thrill for me when I find a striking caterpillar or two. I'd even say these are pretty. These pictures were taken in a friend's expansive yard just south of Point Lobos, so I can't be sure if the Ceanothus is native or a garden variety. The visual addition of periwinkle and pride of Madeira made for an awesome sight of intense purples and greens. It's too bad I didn't get a step-back habitat photo.

As for the ID of the moth, I am sure it's a Lophocampa sp., but I'm not absolutely positive it's a silver-spotted tiger moth. Based on their size, I suspect these have another instar or two before they're ready to pupate into adult moths. Almost a year ago, bb of biobabbler, Chris Grinter of The Skeptical Moth, and I had a discussion of L. argentata on her blog post of a mystery caterpillar. Most of the L. argentata caterpillar pictures found online are tannish-orange in overall color. In my defense, there are whiter versions like mine (and, no, it's not due to a flash) that have been found at Point Lobos: BugGuide and CalPhotos. Additionally, the literature states the silver-spotted tiger moth feeds on conifers, particularly Douglas-firs. As shown above, they're definitely feeding on Ceanothus blooms. I wonder if location or food preference has anything to do with the color variation of the caterpillars... or if these locals are possibly a different species.

ps 03/23/11 - I originally posted this as silver-spotted tiger moth (Lophocampa argentata). Thanks to Chris Grinter of The Skeptical Moth, I queried Jerry Powell, professor at UC Berkeley and co-author of Moths of Western North America. The three of us had a brief e-mail exchange. Jerry seems to be unsure whether L. argentata and L. sobrina are indeed distinct species, contrary to what his co-author Paul Opler thought. The photo they used in their book of L. sobrina was feeding on blackberry and alder. With Chris's permission to quote him on my blog, here's what he e-mailed, "Yea I think there are deeper problems than just the identification. Only L. sobrina is known from the Monterey area - and identifications of L. argentata from that are are incorrect IF sobrina is a true species. Putting them side by side I do see differences, but they are incredibly superficially similar. I haven't taken a close enough look at the morphology or DNA to actually make a real call. This is a project for another day - but caterpillars of Lophocampa from that area would also be sobrina. The problem with caterpillars is that they are even more variable than adults..." Chris goes on, "I'd say sobrina is the name applied to that population right now. Who knows how long that will stick around for though, there are a few other Arctiinae species in coastal california that share this same problem." Thank you, Chris and Jerry! Who knows, I may have the very first pictures of L. sobrina correctly identified on the internet. Maybe Chris will get BugGuide and Calphotos to correct their pictures?

pss 03/27/11 - I've also contacted Paul Opler who advised me to try to rear these so that I can know for sure which species it is. Hmph! I think I'll do that.

pss 04/20/11 - I realized I haven't posted an update with pictures of this caterpillar. I ended up collecting one on 03/31/11 along with another all black caterpillar from the Highlands. As it so happens, today I spotted something fuzzy on the balcony and thought the one I had collected had somehow escaped. Nope. Now I have two of these caterpillars that seem to like feeding on fresh oak leaves.

buck brush ~ 03/04/11 ~ Pinnacles

buck brush
Ceanothus cuneatus var. cuneatus
Rhamnaceae

These white to lavender blooms were everywhere and smelled amazing. What a treat to be hiking through wafts of pleasant floral perfumes. However, I was surprised to see so few bees visiting the flowers. Even though it was fairly warm the day we visited, it snowed just the previous Saturday and perhaps the freezing temps affected the native bees. There are close to 400 species of bees at Pinnacles, which according to their website is "the highest known bee diversity per unit area of any place on earth." Impressive.

ps - Given the comments already posted below, I should also mention Ceanothus spp. are frequently, generically called wild lilac. Here in California, there are around 90 species and subspecies of native Ceanothus. It's no wonder I usually have such a difficult time identifying these lovely bushes. Many Ceanothus closer to home, both out in the wild and in gardens, have been blooming since mid-January this year.

CA sister ~ 05/06/10 ~ Pinnacles

California sister perched on buck brush
Adelpha californica (formerly Adelpha bredowii) perched on Ceanothus cuneatus var. cuneatus
Rhamnaceae

Didn't I say I hope my pictures will improve in a year? And, yes, I'm using the same ol' Konica Minolta DiMAGE X50. I'm just pausing a little longer and being patient.

I often get California sisters confused with Lorquin's admiral (Limenitis lorquini) from the top view and on the wing. The way I remember it now is "Lorquin's lacks the black" margin around the orange tips. From the underside, each is very different.

Notice it appears like there are only 4 legs? There really are 6, the front two are tucked in, which is typical of the Nymphalidae family, also known as brushfoots. What I don't understand is Glassberg, p.134 says the forelegs are reduced in males. Does this mean they are not reduced in females? I can't find anything online confirming this, but I do find it interesting that most pictures online are of males.

To see a fantastic picture of the California sister caterpillar, see Butterflies of America's site.

ps 07/02/11 - I should note that buck brush is not the host plant of CA sister. This butterfly's caterpillars reportedly eat oaks. As I watched the individual above, it seemed to be territorial of a particular open air space created by the nearby stream; it repeatedly perched on the same branch of buck brush, after chasing other butterflies.

ps - 06/01/13 - I've updated the butterfly name change and embedded links.

Ceanothus sp.

Rhamnaceae

We saw this on the side of the rec trail near the Fisherman's Wharf. I noticed this more than the other ceanothus blooming right now, because the leaves are unusually small.

California lilac
Ceanothus sp.
Rhamnaceae

The predominant color this spring has been blue - lupines and extremely lush Ceanothus blooms everywhere. A quick search of the Calflora database came up with 90 genera matches. I'm not going to even try to narrow this down to specific possibilities.