Apodemia mormo nr mormo

Mormon Metalmark

In the vicinity of Wildhorse Meadow and Onyx Peak, southeast of Big Bear Lake, there is a very dark mormo around patches of Wright's buckwheat, Eriogonum wrightii var. subscaposum. It flies in a single brood around September. This area appears to be one end of a large cline with, perhaps, the very bright mormo cythera (or tuolumnensis) populations at the other end, and a large blend zone with a mix of phenotypes in between. According to John Emmel (via email in 2017): "Just east of Van Dusen Canyon you get into a large blend zone with A. mormo near mormo. On the slope NW of Baldwin Lake you can collect a broad range of phenotypes. Here it is associated with Eriogonum fasciculatum as well as E. wrightii. There is Eriogonum kennedyi in the area also and likely this is used as well." In the landmark "Three Biotypes" paper by Gordon Pratt and Greg Ballmer, however, the authors have cythera and mormo north of the San Gabriels and San Bernardinos, with cythera continuing north to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. To the east, in the desert mountains (Little San Bernardinos, Old Woman, New York, Providence, Hackberry, and Westgard pass) we have the mormo mormo phenotype; up at Hunter Mountain, the Cosos, and Inyos, it is cythera. To the south, this phenotype is present in the San Jacintos at Black Mountain. The relationship between these fall-flying mormo populations is something we'll have to work out. But besides the life cycle differing from other nearby metalmarks, these also have a larger egg. And no wonder: they spend much of the year in the egg, while sympatric spring flyers emerge in about 15 days and spend most of their life as larvae. The differences are real, even if appearances don't always reflect them.

Apodemia mormo nr mormo - Mormon Metalmark
This striking mormo from the Wildhorse Canyon area of the San Bernardinos is Apodemia mormo near mormo. I took all these photos on Sept. 11, 2007. Some - like this one - were almost completely lacking in orange, and so were almost black with white spots. They looked like tiny admirals from a distance.
Apodemia mormo nr mormo - Mormon Metalmark
This mormon metalmark uses E. wrightii var subscaposum. Remarkably, an almost identical mormo-complex metalmark uses wrightii as well in the same general area but flies a few months earlier in the year. They were long thought to be two broods of the same butterfly. (The earlier flyer is Apodemia virgulti dialeucoides.)
Apodemia mormo nr mormo - Mormon Metalmark
Ventral of Apodemia mormo nr mormo.
Apodemia mormo nr mormo - Mormon Metalmark
One more ventral of Apodemia mormo nr mormo.
Apodemia mormo from Holcolm Valley
Apodemia mormo from the Holcolm Valley area (east of Van Dusen) of the San Bernardino Mountains. September 6, 2007.
Apodemia mormo from Holcolm Valley
A different one, on the same hike.
Apodemia mormo from Holcolm Valley
This one is from the same spot, but on August 23, 2005. This phenotype - a male? - has the larger white macules as seen in the mormo to the southeast.

©Dennis Walker