Euchloe hyantis lotta
Desert Pearly Marble
For now, the desert subspecies (or species, depending on whom you ask) of the hyantis group best fits here. The literature on this complex of butterflies is kind of a mess. We are probably dealing with at least a couple of species in our area. As an example, andrewsi flies in June along the highway near Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains. Not far from there, another "pearly marble" is not uncommon on the east side of Big Bear Lake, and the two do not intermix. It also appears that the desert lotta differs from hyantis, and both Ken Davenport and Jim Brock "have both noted that hyantis and lotta both occur together along the Chimney Peak Road and in the Kennedy Meadows area on the Kern Plateau" (Emmel update, p.58).
This 'desert' marble was flying along a wash within Joshua Tree National Park, right where the two deserts meet (there is a sign and pullout along Pinto Basin Road). March 15, 2020.
Same individual as above.
The black cell bar varies in width; this is the widest I've seen. Most are perhaps half as wide within this population, which is along the Teutonia Peak Trail in the Mojave National Preserve. April 13, 2020.
Euchloe hyantis lotta, the desert marble or desert pearly marble, taking nectar on Fiddleneck near Cottonwood Spring in Joshua Tree National Park on March 30, 2009.
Dorsal view of Euchloe hyantis lotta, same day as above.
Another one, same day. They were common in a large wash near Cottonwood Spring that had plenty of host plant and nectar sources along the canyon walls.
©Dennis Walker
