Butterfiles and Weevils

The second week in May, the Naturalist (Jane) and I drove down to Canaan Valley to attend a couple training sessions and the Wildflower Pilgrimage. On the way we made several stops to collect (photograph) butterflies. Our first stop was at the Shale Barren where we found Juniper Hairstreak in the past. This day we were looking for Columbine Duskywings. We found lots of Columbine but I think we were too late for the butterfly.

I did find this nice little male Zabulon (Poanes zabulon) nectaring on Multiflora Rose.

And here is a female Zabulon that I caught to take a photo. Isn’t it amazing how they can hang upside down clinging to practically nothing?

I also found a Question Mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis). Most people think you need to see the “?” on the underside but you can actually look at the top and know it is a Question Mark by looking for the dash like spot I have pointed out. The Comma (Polygonia comma) does not have this; it only has the three spots. For the most part this works well but I’m sure there might be exceptions as there are to almost everything in nature.

I found a weevil cling to the grass and I think it is a Lixus concavus commonly known as a Rhubarb weevil. I'm rather fond of weevils so I took a special interest in this one.

I couldn’t get a good photo so I decided to pick it up and it immediately decided to play dead and flopped over onto its back.

After a couple of photos I flipped it over and it just laid there for a moment and then eventually decided all was save and got up on all 6 legs and began to move about.

It has scales on it that give it a powdery look and actually do come of easily.