On Saturday last week, ORLT held a Butterfly Walk at Tallassee Forest Preserve, a 310 acre property on the Middle Oconee River owned by Athens-Clarke County. Retired UGA entomology professor Jim Porter led the hike, sharing his many years of expertise and boundless enthusiasm for butterflies and moths, as well as some examples from his personal collection. Along the way, hikers saw various native species on the wing, including sleepy oranges, cloudless sulphurs, variegated fritillaries, and many species of skippers and hairstreaks.
Jim emphasized that the southeast is especially rich in lepidoptera species and that southern species are historically under documented, owing to the fact that new species have often been lumped in without much investigation with whatever northern species they most resembled. And did you know that Georgia has several butterfly species, including the state butterfly -- the tiger swallowtail -- that look different depending on what part of the country they live in? In the northeast, for instance, all of the tiger swallowtails are the familiar yellow and black striped pattern. But in the southeast, where the inpalitable pipevine or blue swallowtail is common, many female tiger swallowtails are darker, without any yellow, and with blue on their lower wings, mimicking the poisonous pipevine swallowtail in order to avoid predation.
Everyone learned a lot and had a great time! Special thanks to Jim Porter, Lawson Moore and all the folks from Athens-Clarke County who helped facilitate this hike!