Indra subspecies in Utah
The Northwestern Area
Finally, let's look at the west deserts of Utah and a new subspecies to be
described in the literature. Although superficially like the nominate race, this
is not the nominate race which is obvious when comparing 5th instars.
Fifth instars from Clear Creek, above Denver, Colorado (near the nominate race's
TL) are broad banded with little or no tendency toward becoming all black, as
illustrated below.
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A typical 5th instar from Clear Creek, Colorado |
At what will be designated the type locality of this new race, 90 percent or
more of the 5th instars are all black as illustrated in the next
photos. Others have broken or incomplete bands. The name to be given this
population is P. i. bonnevillensis for its location in
the range of pleistocene Lake Bonneville.
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| All black 5th instar from the west deserts of Utah | Another all black 5th instar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Adults are small and have on average wider postmedian wing bands than nominate Indra, as illustrated below.
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Adult subspecies Nov. (2 2/16 across forewing tips) |
On average they are smaller than nominate Indra.
| Comparison of P. i. bonnevillensis (left)
measuring 2 2/16 in., and P. i. indra (2 11/16 in.) |
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In comparison with Papilio i. nevadensis
populations to the west (the nearest known population being near Ely, NV),
bonnevillensis individuals are consistently smaller
(see next photo). P. i. nevadensis consistently has
long tails, while bonnevillensis never has long tails.
P. i. nevadensis is one of the larger races and
bonnevillensis represents one of the smaller race.
However, more conclusively, nevadensis does not have
bandless, black larvae.
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Comparison of P. i. bonnevillensis (bottom) 2 2/16 inches with P. i. nevadensis |
P. i. bonnevillensis is restricted to the LFP, Lomatium grayi var. depauperatum, an unusual variety of Gray's Biscuitroot, with a distinct celery bouquet. Flight period extremes are from late March to mid-May (average = mid- to late-April). Larvae may be present until about mid June after which the LFPs are for the most part seeded out and desiccated.
