KMHRP Butterflies
Buckeye pair - male on right
© Mitch Heindel, 2005
KMHRP is an outstanding place for Butterflies!
In summer especially when there are lots of
wildflowers blooming, the park is loaded
with them! TWO DOZEN species may be found
in a single day with a little effort.
Here we present a list of species currently
found at KMHRP, and photos of half of them.
Only those species seen at KMHRP in
in the last decade are listed here.
Many species are extirpated in recent
(modern) times, and have not been seen
in over a decade.
Species PRECEDED by an ASTERISK (*)
have only been seen once in last decade;
they are ACCIDENTALS.
(Well known synonyms are in parentheses).
Giant Swallowtail
Tiger Swallowtail
PAPILIONIDAE - Swallowtails (5)
Anise Swallowtail - Papilio zelicaon
Western Tiger Swallowtail - Papilio rutulus
* Pale Swallowtail - Papilio eurymedon
* Pipevine Swallowtail - Battus philenor
Giant Swallowtail - Papilio cresphontes
Weird XL Anise Swallowtail?
PIERIDAE - Whites, Orange-tips, Sulphurs (6)
Cabbage White - Pieris rapae
Checkered White - Pieris protodice
* Sara Orangetip - Anthocharis sara
Orange Sulphur (Alfalfa) - Colias eurytheme
Cloudless (Senna) Sulphur - Phoebis sennae
* Dainty Sulphur - Nathanis iloe
Checkered White
Red Admiral
NYMPHALIDAE - Brush-foots (9)
(Striated) Queen - Danaus gilippus strigosus
Monarch - Danaus plexippus
Gulf Fritillary - Agraulis vanillae incarnata
Red Admiral - Vanessa atalanta rubria
Painted Lady - Vanessa cardui
West Coast Lady - Vanessa carye anabella
American (Virginia) Lady - Vanessa virginiensis
Mourning Cloak - Nymphalis antiopa
Buckeye - Precis coenia
Mourning Cloak
Photo by Jess Morton
West Coast Lady
(Painted and American Lady similar)
Fatal (Dusky) Metalmark
Acmon Blue - Male (left), Female (right)
LYCAENIDAE
Metalmarks, Hairstreaks, and Blues (5)
Fatal Metalmark - Calephelis nemesis
Gray Hairstreak - Strymon melinus pudica
Pygmy Blue - Brephidium exilis
Marine Blue - Leptotes marina
Acmon Blue - Plebejus acmon
Pygmy Blue
HESPERIDAE - Skippers (8)
Fiery Skipper - Hylephila phyleus
Sandhill Skipper - Polites sabuleti
Field Skipper (Sachem) - Atalopetes campestris
Woodland Skipper - Ochlodes sylvanoides
Umber Skipper - Paratrytone melane
Eufala Skipper - Lerodea eufala
Funereal Duskywing - Erynnis zarucco funeralis
Common (Western) Checkered Skipper - Pyrgus communis albescens
(probably the "White type" is the local population)
Fiery Skipper
Umber Skipper
Eufala Skipper
Skipper sp.
Hypothetical - single probable sightings
unconfirmed by absolute specimen evidence:
* Rural Skipper - Ochlodes agricola
* Wandering Skipper - Panoquina panoquinoides errans
33 species of butterflies have been found
at KMHRP in the last 10 years. Surely other
migratory and transient species have occurred
undetected due to lack of knowledgeable
observer coverage.
There are additional hypothetical
(not positively identified) modern records.
Those, taken together with the likely
historically present species (i.e., in 1950
when it was still "undeveloped")
there probably have been 50 species at the
site in modern times. During the annual (July)
PV/SB Audubon Butterfly Count, 20 species
and hundreds of individual butterflies are
usually found and counted at the site
JUST IN A SINGLE DAY!
The critically endangered Palos Verdes Blue,
whose world population lives a half mile away,
almost certainly used to live here.
Gulf Fritillary
White-lined Sphinx Moth
Not a Butterfly & more resembles a hummingbird
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All contents © Mitch Heindel 2005