Hairstreaks (and Other Insects) Feeding at Galls, Honeydew, Extrafloral Nectaries, Sugar Bait, Cars, and Other Routine Substrates

Abstract

The northern oak hairstreak ( Satyrium favonius ontario (W. H. Edwards)) is one of the most infrequently encountered resident butterflies in New England; only three adults were seen over the five-year course of the Connecticut Butterfly Atlas project (O'Don-nell et al. 2007). Shapiro (1974) considered it one of the rarest northeastern butterflies, and (as often quoted elsewhere in the butterfly literature) Holland (1931) regarded the northern oak hairstreak to be so infrequent that he wondered if the butterfly might be a re-occurring aberration of a more common hairstreak. Its scarcity is mysterious in that its host, oak, is one of the most abundant plant genera in the East. Its congener, the striped hairstreak ( Satyrium liparops (Le Conte)) is infrequently encountered in New England; most reports are of adults nectaring at milkweed blossoms in late June and July. However, its late instars are among the most common lepidopteran larvae on apple and highbush blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum L.) in early June. In spring 2013, we found numerous striped hairstreak larvae while beating blueberry for immatures of Henry's elfin butterfly ( Callophrys henrici (Grote & Robinson)); five to eight S. liparops caterpillars were found on every highbush blueberry that was sampled along a woodland path in Salem, Connecticut. The same path and adjacent yard yielded only two striped hairstreak adult sightings over the course of the next six weeks despite repeated and …