Philotes sonorensis explained

Philotes is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. Philotes is a monotypic genus containing only Philotes sonorensis, the Sonoran blue or stonecrop blue, found in North America in California and Baja California. The habitat consists of rocky washes, outcrops and cliffs in deserts.^[1]

The wingspan is 22–25 mm. The upperside is silvery blue with red spots at the outer margin of the forewings. Females also have red spots on the hindwings. Adults are on the wing in February and March, with just one generation per year.^[2]

The larvae feed on Dudleya species, including D. cymosa, D. lanceolata and D. saxosa. They bore into the leaves of their host plant. Chrysalids hibernate under stones.

Taxonomy

Molecular phylogeny reconstructed a tree of the genus Pseudophilotes and identified a clade of Philotes sonorensis and Scolitantides orion as the closest relatives.^[3]

Subspecies

• Philotes sonorensis sonorensis
• †Philotes sonorensis extincta Mattoni, 1989 (upper San Gabriel river wash in southern California). This population in the San Gabriel Mountains was sampled annually for three decades leading to its disappearance in 1970. It was recognized nearly two decades later as a sub-species.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: NatureServe Explorer 2.0. explorer.natureserve.org.
2. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Philotes-sonorensis Butterflies and Moths of North America
3. Todisco . Valentina . Grill . Andrea . Fiedler . Konrad . Gottsberger . Brigitte . Dincă . Vlad . Vodă . Raluca . Lukhtanov . Vladimir . Letsch . Harald . December 2018 . Molecular phylogeny of the Palaearctic butterfly genus Pseudophilotes (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) with focus on the Sardinian endemic P. barbagiae . BMC Zoology . en . 3 . 1 . 4 . 10.1186/s40850-018-0032-7 . 2056-3132. free .
4. Lucas . Amy M. . Scholl . Cynthia F. . Murphy . Dennis D. . Tracy . C. Richard . Forister . Matthew L. . July 2014 . Leather . Simon R. . DeVries . Phil . Geographic distribution, habitat association, and host quality for one of the most geographically restricted butterflies in North America: Thorne's hairstreak (Mitoura thornei) . Insect Conservation and Diversity . en . 7 . 4 . 343–354 . 10.1111/icad.12057. 86036029 .