Page 37 - OutdoorOK2024MayJune ONLINE

Adult elfins also have a short flight season that ends before most but-
terfly enthusiasts start venturing afield. JENA DONNELL/ODWC
“When we first started surveying, the flight season was thought to just
be three to four weeks in March and April. In that time frame in Oklahoma,
there can be rain, it can be really cold, and there can even be ice storms.
Most butterflies just don’t come out that early. But we recently learned
frosted elfins can be active in 45-degree temperatures — before the host
plant has emerged — which is incredible and surprising.”
While the butterfly itself is a challenge to find, Smith knew of a trade secret:
If a species is secretive or otherwise hard to find, look first for its habitat.
For the frosted elfin, that meant looking for the known host plant in
Oklahoma, yellow wild indigo. In bloom, the indigo’s vivid yellow flow-
ers are hard to miss but its bright green leaves and tendency to grow
in clumps make the plant easy to spot from the road even outside of its Yellow wild indigo flower.
flowering stage.
To find sites where wild indigo has been known to
grow in Oklahoma, Smith relied on the Oklahoma
Biodiversity Information System as well as museum
and public databases and then reached out to the ALEx HARMON/CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED
state’s naturalist community to broaden the known
indigo sites — and the elfin search radius — to 30
southeastern Oklahoma counties.

… TO MORE THAN 150 RECORDS
Once host plant locations were identified and
the logistics of surveying across a wide swath of
the state in unpredictable weather conditions were
Frosted elfin butterfly.
untangled, Smith joined her team of other scien- OKLAHOMA’S BRIEF FROSTED ELFIN HISTORY:
tists, conservation groups, and butterfly enthusi- 1991–2018
asts in the field.
The frosted elfin has only been known in Oklahoma since
During the adult butterfly’s flight season, survey-
the early 1990s when entomologist Chuck Harp document-
ors would walk in a zigzag pattern through indigo
ed the species in Garvin and Murray counties. The next batch
patches, documenting any adult elfins that were
of records followed nearly 20 years later when former USFWS
kicked up. Later, they would return to the patches,
employee Berlin Heck observed the butterfly on his McCurtain
examining a minimum number of plants per patch
County property, more than 140 miles away.
and documenting any frosted elfin larvae found.
Curious if frosted elfins remained at these sites, Bryan
“Our main goal was to broadcast out and find
Reynolds, another butterfly enthusiast and early member of
as many sites as possible to better understand the
Smith’s elfin team, conducted follow-up surveys at Harp’s
frosted elfin’s distribution in the state,” Smith said.
southcentral sites in 2011 and at Heck’s southeastern site in
In addition to increasing the number of Oklahoma
2018. Though unable to find adult frosted elfins or their larvae
frosted elfin records from nine to 188, the survey
at either location, Reynolds searched the surrounding areas
results also revealed patterns within the state. From
and encountered the butterfly at nearby sites. The elfins at
the map on page 37, one would think more elfins are
the “new” Murray County site have since been dubbed the
found in eastern Oklahoma where more small host
“Sulphur Colony,” while the elfins at the “new” McCurtain
plant patches are found. But actually, elfins and wild
County site are now identified as the “Haworth Colony.”
indigo have their highest densities within sites in south-
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