The specimen was photographed while basking in the sun on a bed of pine needles. Truly a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, the recent fire destroyed much of the vegetation in this area.
Hyalophora gloveri (Sonoran group)
"Hyalophora columbia gloveri"
Santa Rita Mountains, Madera Canyon, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, USA
Collected at lights (attracted to virgin Hyalophora sp. females)
~3:45 am
5,000-6,000 ft. a.s.l.
(found along the Madera Canyon - Mt. Wrightson Trail to elev. of ~8,000 to 9,000 ft. a.s.l.)
Coll. Bill Reynolds, S. Smith & R. Otto
Specimen #1 (MALE - long crescents): July 31, 1999
Specimen #2 (MALE - short crescents): July 31, 1999
Specimen #3 (Male)/Ventral: August 2, 1999
NOTE the variation in pattern among these specimens - all collected at the same site.
Within this population, the crescents can vary from long "euryalus-like" to reduced and even absent in extreme cases.
Hyalophora gloveri (syn. H. columbia gloveri) is in a state of taxonomic debate. Although recently placed under H. columbia as a subspecies, there is emerging evidence to support its relationship to H. columbia may not be as close as previously thought.
For additional info on Hyalophora gloveri (syn. H. columbia gloveri), refer to the following:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/116365
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=7769
Mountain Spiny Lizard, 2 May 2008, Madera Canyon, AZ
Black-capped Gnatcatcher
Chino Canyon, Arizona
1 May 1983
These two images are right at 30 years old. By today's standards these are lousy shots, but "back in the day" they were pretty exciting as they were some of the only images ever taken of this species in the U.S. The first shot was actually used as the cover for "Birding" magazine in one of the 1984 issues.
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