Euphilotes enoptes cryptorufes

Dark Aurora Blue or 'Pratt's' Blue

This is a truly rare butterfly named in Systematics (pp.211-12) by Gordon Pratt and John Emmel. It's said to be similar to the tiny E. mojave, but is distinguished by a darker orange aurora in both sexes, and males often have black scales filling the aurora (thus "cryptorufes": concealed red). This little blue is associated with Eriogonum davidsonii, and flies in late May and June. The type locality is "the south-facing slopes of Pyramid Mt. in the San Jacinto Mts., 1,500-2,100 m."

The authors wrote: "The Dark Aurora Blue has been found only in the San Jacinto Mountains, Santa Rosa Mountains, and the Sierra Juarez [in Baja California]. At this time, it has not been found in the intervening mountains, such as the Laguna or Santa Ana Mountains, where the host is present. Only careful search of these plants can reveal this rare butterfly. Three adults have been collected in the San Jacinto Mountains since the turn of the century; the rest were collected as larvae." The records in the paper - both adults and larvae - range from 1980 to 1984. What has happened in the last 35 years? I've yet to see a photograph of a living cryptorufes online or printed. The male and female figured in Systematics are muddy black-and-white photos. There is a much better, color photo in the Monroe's Anza-Borrego book on p.55 of a specimen from the San Diego Museum of Natural History. That butterfly is from Mexico, and was collected June 2, 1983; that record is in the Pratt and Emmel article ("Baja Calif. Norte; Sierra Juarez, 6 mi. N of Laguna Hanson").

The type locality is not far from Cactus Spring Trail. Pyramid Peak rises to just over 7000' in the San Jacintos; 1500-2100 meters = ~5000-6900 feet elev. One could take Pimlico Canyon Road (which begins at the 74/371 intersection) from the 74 to about where it meets up with the PCT; that is at 5700'. (The PCT itself is approx. 10 miles one-way from the 74 to Pyramid Peak.) But finding this butterfly seems an event of vanishingly small probability.