Abstract

We report two significant butterfly sightings in the United States, observed during an opportunistic photographic survey conducted in south Texas between December 2022 and January 2023. Parrhasius moct¬ezuma (Clench, 1971) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) was sighted at the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, on January 5, 2023, marking the first documented record of the species in Texas and only the second in the United States, as confirmed by photographic evidence. Additionally, Aegiale hesperiaris (Walker, 1856) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) was potentially observed at the same location on December 4, 2022, although lacking photographic documentation or a collected specimen, highlighting the need for further observations in south Texas. These extralimital records enhance our understanding of the distributions and potential range expansions of these two taxa

References

• Bonebrake TC, Ponisio LC, Boggs CL, Ehrlich PR. 2010. More than just indicators: A review of tropical butterfly ecology and conservation. Biological Conservation 143(8): 1831–1841.  
• Bordelon C, Knudson E. 2003. Illustrated checklist of Lepidoptera of the lower Rio Grande Valley. Part 1: Butterflies. TLS PUB. 9a. Texas Lepidoptera Survey; Houston, TX. 54 p 
• Bordelon C, Knudson E. 2006. Illustrated checklist of Lepidoptera of the lower Rio Grande Valley. Vol. 1: Butterflies. TLS PUB. 9a. Texas Lepidoptera Survey; Houston, TX. 60 p 
• Braby MF. 2004. The complete field guide to butterflies of Australia. CSIRO Publishing; Melbourne, Australia. 339 p 
• Brown KS. 1991. Conservation of Neotropical environments: insects as indicators. p. 350–404. In: Collines NM, Thomas JA (eds.). The conservation of insects and their habitats. Academic Press; London. 468 p 
• Davenport K. 2017. 2016 season summary: Zone 3 Southwest/Hawaii, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Hawaii. News of the Lepidopterists’ Society 59(Supplement 1): 33–42.  
• De Benedictis JA, Wagner DL, Whitfield JB. 1990. Larval hosts of Microlepidoptera of the San Bruno Mountains, California. Atala 16: 14–18.  
• Ehrlich PR. 1994. Energy use and biodiversity loss. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 344: 99–104.  
• Fleishman E, Murphy DD. 2009. A realistic assessment of the indicator potential of butterflies and other charismatic taxonomic groups. Conservation Biology 23(5): 1109–1116.  
• Flockhart DT, Fitz-Gerald B, Brower LP, Derbyshire R, Altizer S, Hobson KA, Wassenaar LI, Norris DR. 2017. Migration distance as a selective episode for wing morphology in a migratory insect. Movement Ecology 5: 1–9.  
• Freeman HA. 1969. Systematic review of the Megathymidae. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 23(suppl. 1): 1–59.  
• Glassberg J. 2017. A swift guide to butterflies of North America. Princeton University Press; Princeton, NJ. 420 p 
• Glassberg J. 2018. A swift guide to butterflies of Mexico and Central America. Princeton University Press; Princeton, NJ. 304 p 
• Hermy M, Cornelis J. 2000. Towards a monitoring method and a number of multifaceted and hierarchical biodiversity indicators for urban and suburban parks. Landscape and Urban Planning 49: 149–162.  
• iNaturalist. 2024. A Community for Naturalists · iNaturalist. Available at https://www.inaturalist.org  (Last accessed August 22, 2024.)
• Jaimes-Rodríguez I, González-Hernández H, Llanderal-Cázares C, Rodríguez-Ortega A, Guzmán-Franco AW. 2020. Traditional Mexican dish is associated with more than one skipper species (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae, Megathiminae, Aegialini). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 113(3): 183–192.  
• KC S, Sapkota A. 2022. Additional distribution records of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) with seven species new to Nepal. Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity 23(5): 2711–2738.  
• Kerr JT, Sugar A, Packer L. 2000. Indicator taxa, rapid biodiversity assessment, and nestedness in an endangered ecosystem. Conservation Biology 14: 1726–1734.  
• Kula E, Kralicek M. 1995. Occurrence of melanism with butterflies in polluted area Decinsky Sneznik. Lesnictvi 41: 257–264.  
• Maza RR de la. 1987. Mariposas Mexicanas: Guía para su Colecta y Determinación. Fondo de Cultura Económica. S. A. de C. V.; Mexico City, Mexico. 302 p 
• Maza-Elvira RG de la. 1976. Notas sobre Lepidópteros de Rancho Viejo y Tepoztlán, Morelos, México. Segunda parte: Hesperidos, Megatimidos y Castnidos. Revista de la Sociedad Mexicana de Lepidopterología 2(1): 15–23.  
• Molina-Vega A, Hernández-Domínguez EM, Villa-García M, Álvarez-Cervantes J. 2021. Comadia redtenbacheri (Lepidoptera: Cossidae) and Aegiale hesperiaris (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), two important edible insects of Agave salmiana (Asparagales: Asparagaceae): a review. International Journal of Tropical Insect Science 41: 1977–1988.  
• Nelson SM. 2007. Butterflies (Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea) as potential ecological indicators of riparian quality in the semi-arid western United States. Ecological Indicators 7(2): 469–480.  
• Nelson SM, Andersen DC. 1994. An assessment of riparian environmental quality by using butterflies and disturbance susceptibility scores. Southwest Naturalist 39(2): 137–142.  
• Nicolay SS. 1979. Studies in the genera of American hairstreaks. 5. A review of the Hubnerian genus Parrhasius and description of a new genus Michaelus (Lycaenidae: Eumaeini). Bulletin of the Allyn Museum 56: 1–52.  
• Niemelä J, Baur B. 1998. Threatened species in a vanishing habitat: plants and invertebrates in calcareous grasslands in the Swiss Jura mountains. Biodiversity and Conservation 7: 1407–1416.  
• Pelham JP. 2023. A catalogue of the butterflies of the United States and Canada. McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History; Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.  (Last accessed August 23, 2024.)
• Quinn M. 2020. Manfreda Giant-Skipper. Texas Lep Information. Available at https://www.texasento.net/Stallingsia.htm  (Last accessed August 24, 2024.)
• Suchan T, Bataille CP, Reich MS, Toro-Delgado E, Vila R, Pierce NE, Talavera G. 2024. A trans-oceanic flight of over 4,200 km by painted lady butterflies. Nature Communications 15(1): 5205.  
• Thomas JA. 2005. Monitoring change in the abundance and distribution of insects using butterflies and other indicator groups. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 360: 339–357.  
• Nouhuys S, Hanski I. 2005. Metacommunities of butterflies, their host plants and their parasitoids. p. 99–121. In: Holyoak M, Leibold MA, Holt RD (eds.). Metacommunities: spatial dynamics and ecological communities. University of Chicago Press; Chicago. 520 p 
• Warren AD, Davis KJ, Stangeland EM, Pelham JP, Willmott KR, Grishin NV. 2024. Illustrated Lists of American Butterflies (North and South America). Available at https://www.butterfliesofamerica.com/index.html  (Last accessed August 24, 2024.)
• Whittaker RJ, Araújo MB, Jepson P, Ladle RJ, Watson JE, Willis KJ. 2005. Conservation biogeography: assessment and prospect. Diversity and Distributions 11: 3–23.  
• Zhang J, Cong Q, Shen J, Song L, Grishin NV. 2023. Butterfly classification and species discovery using genomics. Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 11(3): 1–93.