- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
A gray butterfly and a fruit fly...
Each has "fly" in its name but one is a member of the order Lepidoptera and the other, order Diptera. Etymology does not agree with entomology.
Ever managed to photograph a butterfly and fruit fly in the same image?
Presenting: a gray hairstreak butterfly, Strymon melinus, and a fruit fly, Neotephritis finalis, an organism commonly known as "the sunflower seed maggot."
They were foraging March 21 in a Vacaville garden on Coreopsis, a genus of flowering plants in Asteraceae.
N. finalis, one of the most commonly seen fruit flies (tephritids) flies in North America. develops in the seed heads of plants in the sunflower family. They're also called "picture-winged flies." BugGuide.net tells us "Wings are mostly dark in apical half with six hyaline spots forming a distinct triangle."
The wings are indeed striking!
But so are the wings of the gray hairstreak butterfly. That orange spot with a black dot on the hindwing probably resembles an eye to a predator.
Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus, says on his research website that the gray hairstreak "is one of the most polyphagous butterflies known, recorded on host plants in many families. Its most frequent hosts in our area are mallows, including the weedy species of Malva; legumes, including Spanish Lotus (Lotus purshianus), Bird's-Foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), White Clover (Trifolium repens) in lawns, Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and many others; and Turkey Mullein (Eremocarpus or Croton setigerus, Euphorbiaceae)."
Maybe we'll see the butterfly and the fruit fly again...
![A fruit fly, Neotephritis finalis, peers up at a gray hairstreak butterfly, Strymon melinus, in a bed of Coreopsis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A fruit fly, Neotephritis finalis, peers up at a gray hairstreak butterfly, Strymon melinus, in a bed of Coreopsis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/105683.jpg)
![Closeup of a fruit fly, Neotephritis finalis, an organism commonly known as a Closeup of a fruit fly, Neotephritis finalis, an organism commonly known as a](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/105684.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Where are the monarch butterflies? They're MIA on the four species of milkweed in our Vacaville pollinator garden
But milkweed attracts other insects, including honey bees, carpenter bees, bumble bees, assassin bugs, syrphid flies, leafcutter bees, Anthophora (genus) bees, wasps, praying mantids, and butterflies, including Gulf Fritillaries, Agraulis vanillae, and gray hairstreaks, Strymon melinus. And yes, arthropods such as crab spiders and orbweavers visit, too.
On Sept. 19, we witnessed a gray hairstreak laying eggs on the buds of a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, which we planted in a container with another milkweed, butterflyweed, A. tuberosa. (Yes, we give the monarchs a choice; we also offer them showy milkweed, A. speciosa, and narrowleaf milkweed, A. fascicularis, and we cut back the A. curassavica before the fall migration, as noted entomologists recommend.)
Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, says this about the gray hairstreak on his website, Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site:
"This is one of the most polyphagous butterflies known, recorded on host plants in many families. Its most frequent hosts in our area are mallows, including the weedy species of Malva; legumes, including Spanish Lotus (Lotus purshianus), Bird's-Foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), White Clover (Trifolium repens) in lawns, Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and many others;and Turkey Mullein (Eremocarpus or Croton setigerus, Euphorbiaceae)."
So, we mentioned the gray hairstreak laying eggs on the buds of the milkweed. "Is this a host plant, too?"
"Apparently on the flower buds! Never before recorded--in fact, I have no records on Asclepiadaceae/Apocynaceae at all," Shapiro said. "They lay on Callistemon (bottlebrush) too..."
Meanwhile, update: no monarchs, no eggs. We're still waiting.
But "yes" on the gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, and "yes" on her eggs.
![The gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, finds a play her lay her eggs, on the buds of a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) The gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, finds a play her lay her eggs, on the buds of a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/86137.jpg)
![Gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, laying eggs on the buds of a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, laying eggs on the buds of a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/86138.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Gotta love that Gray Hairstreak.
If you don't like putting "gray" and "hair" in the same sentence, not to worry.
This is the butterfly, Strymon melinus.
When the it's hanging around a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, the orange spots on its tail accent the color of the flower.
"Adults visit an immense variety of flowers, both wild and cultivated," writes Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology on his website. "They are particularly addicted to Heliotrope and white-flowered Apiaceae."
"This is one of the most polyphagous butterflies known, recorded on host plants in many families. Its most frequent hosts in our area are mallows, including the weedy species of Malva; legumes, including Spanish Lotus (Lotus purshianus), Bird's-Foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), White Clover (Trifolium repens) in lawns, Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and many others;and Turkey Mullein (Eremocarpus or Croton setigerus, Euphorbiaceae)."
The Gray Hairstreak is considered a weedy butterfly. "Weedy," as Shapiro explains on his web site, "is a general term for organisms that are typically associated with habitats that are disturbed by human activities or are dominated by non-native, invasive plants."
At first glance, you don't know "which end is up"--which makes it all the better for the butterfly to escape predators.
This one allowed me to get quite close. It was more interested in the nectar than the slow movement of the long lens.
![The Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus, sips nectar on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville pollinator garden. The orange spots accent the orange flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) The Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus, sips nectar on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville pollinator garden. The orange spots accent the orange flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/83926.jpg)
![The Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus, dips low to sip nectar on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) The Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus, dips low to sip nectar on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/83927.jpg)
![Eye to eye: the Gray Hairstreak, resembling the sail on a sailboat, eyes the photographer. Note the Eye to eye: the Gray Hairstreak, resembling the sail on a sailboat, eyes the photographer. Note the](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/83928.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Seen any gray hairstreaks, lately?
No, not on someone's head.
This is the butterfly, Strymon melinus, from the Lycaenidae family, known as the gossamer-winged butterflies.
It's an ashy gray butterfly with a white border. You'll also see orange spots on the ends of its hindwings and one on its head, in between the eyes.
One's been hanging around our fava beans, and what a welcome sight.
UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro of the Department of Evolution and Ecology says on his website:
"This is one of the most polyphagous butterflies known, recorded on host plants in many families. Its most frequent hosts in our area are mallows, including the weedy species of Malva; legumes, including Spanish Lotus (Lotus purshianus), Bird's-Foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), White Clover (Trifolium repens) in lawns, Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and many others;and Turkey Mullein (Eremocarpus or Croton setigerus, Euphorbiaceae)."
"Early spring specimens," he says, "are small and very dark with reduced red markings; 'albinos,' with the red replaced by pale yellow, occur mostly in the spring brood. There is much minor variation. Adults visit an immense variety of flowers, both wild and cultivated. They are particularly addicted to Heliotrope and white-flowered Apiaceae."
Sadly, Shapiro, who has been monitoring the butterfly populations of central California since 1972, has been seeing very few butterflies this spring in his transects. Let's hope the butterflies get back on track and give us a winning streak.
Meanwhile, check out his newly renovated website, Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site.
![A gray hairstreak butterfly, Strymon melinus, on fava beans. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A gray hairstreak butterfly, Strymon melinus, on fava beans. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/79209.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's delightful to see the gray hairstreak.
We're not talking about the gray streaks in our hair as we age (to perfection, of course!).
We're talking about the gray hairstreak, a common gray butterfly found throughout the United States, coast to coast, as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. Entomologists describe Strymon melinus as a small gray butterfly with a wingspan of from 2.6 to 3.65 centimeters. It is distinguished by its black-eyed orange spot at the base of its hindwing tails. It also has a small patch of blue before the tail, and two broken crossbands of black and white spots.
You may have seen it nectaring on a variety of plants. Indeed, it's considered one of the most polyphagous of butterflies. It works such flowers as sunflowers, lantana, clover, cosmos, mallows, and the like. In abundance, the larvae can become pests of cotton, peas, corn, corn, hops and other commercial agricultural crops. Cotton farmers call the larvae the "cotton square borer." The insect, however, is a pollinator more than it is a pest.
Perched on a flower with its wings up, the gray hairstreak resembles a sailboat.
It's on a winning steak. It flies fast, skillfully avoiding birds bent on a quick meal. It's a winner in other ways, too:
- it's abundant; not endangered.
- It's gray, but colorful.
- It's a flexible eater, not picky.
Read what Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, says about the butterfly on his website.
![A common gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, nectarine on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A common gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, nectarine on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/32735.jpg)
![Check out the length of the proboscis on the gray hairstreak as it sips nectar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Check out the length of the proboscis on the gray hairstreak as it sips nectar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/32736.jpg)
![Peek-a-boo! A gray hairstreak peers at the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Peek-a-boo! A gray hairstreak peers at the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/32737.jpg)