Interactive Butterfly CD
Butterflies of the
Carolinas & Virginias
Nature Photographer
Randy L Emmitt

Brown Elfin,
Callophrys augustinus
"Unusual form"

 

 

These unusual Brown Elfins we found in Orange County, North Carolina near the top of a piedmont mountain in a state park. The photo below was the first one I found with a group of 4 Brown Elfins. The other three elfins were busy in a courtship flight along the edge of the trail in front of some Mountain Laurel bushes.

The mated pair remained on the laurels till I photographed the lone Brown Elfin next to them. Then they flew onto the trail as shown below. After a large family group with several children walked by on the trail, I decided it was time to move this pair off the trail.



Larger Image Here

These photos were taken with my Canon A2, 180mm macro lens, 25mm extension tube, 540EZ flash, handheld using Kodak E100 VS film. Because of the scanner and flash some of these photos may appear lighter or darker than they actually were. I adjusted exposure and levels in Adobe Photoshop to compensate as best I could.

 



We walked up the trail past the first group of 4 Brown Elfins about 100 yards and found these three above on the Mountain Laurels about 2 foot off the ground. As you can see they exhibit some very unusual marking for what is normally a very plain brown butterfly. The white on top of the median-spot band on the forewing and white on top of the post median band. Also you can see some white lacing in both wing margins.

Below is a close-up of the onlooker from the three elfins shown above.

Finally the mated pair flew onto this barren spot in the sun and at a reverse pose as shown at right, so you can see both individuals entirely in these two mated photos. They remained mated here on this spot after I took about six photos and we proceeded on up the trail to look for more. In all we found eight individuals in the two locations and none elsewhere.

Larger Image Here

If you look carefully at the larger photo you can see a great deal of purple scaling all over the mid section of the hindwing on both elfins, indicating these were very very fresh individuals
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