Menu

New Mexico Rare Arthropod Resource

The New Mexico Rare Arthropod Resource

 
Boloria myrina tollandensis (Tolland Silver-bordered Fritillary)  


Taxonomy

  • Class: INSECTA
  • Order: LEPIDOPTERA
  • Family: NYMPHALIDAE
  • Genus: Boloria
  • Scientific Name: Boloria myrina tollandensis W. Barnes and Benjamin, 1925
  • Common Name: Tolland Silver-bordered Fritillary
  • Synonyms:

Taxonomic Name Source


Pelham, J.P. 2023. A catalogue of the butterflies of the United States and Canada. Revised 15 February 2023. http://butterfliesofamerica.com/US-Can-Cat.htm
Steve Cary ()
Steve Cary ()
Species Occurrence Data From: Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

Agency Conservation Status



  • SGCN
  • NMDGF:
  • USFWS:
  • BLM:
  • USFS:
  • IUCN Red List: Not Evaluated
  • Nature Serve Global: G5
  • NHNM State: S1
  • NM Endemic NO


Agency Conservation Status



SGCN NMDGF USFWS BLM Status USFS IUCN
Red List		 Nature Serve
Global		 NHNM State NM Endemic
Not Evaluated G5 S1 NO


Description

Back to top

Compared to its congeners, Tolland Silver-Bordered Fritillary has a diagnostic row of silver marginal spots on the hindwing underside. Also note the white-ringed black dot in the ventral hindwing basal area. On the upperside, wing submargins have inward-pointing triangles. Description courtesy of Butterflies of New Mexico.

Habitat and Ecology

Back to top

The Tolland Silver-bordered Fritillary can be found within wet meadows, seeps, and lower subalpine zones, though it seems to strongly prefer wet meadows at it most south limits (Scott 2022, Cary and Toliver 2024). Larvae can be found feeding on various violets (Violaceae) host plants (S. Fisher 2009). Specific host plant species are, but not limited to, Viola papilionaceae, Viola nephrophylla, and Viola glabella (Cary and Toliver 2024).

The Tolland Silver-bordered Fritillary has either one or two flights, depending on its locality. Colorado populations within the Wet Mountain Valley are bivoltine between June and late July to early September, while a univoltine population can be found within higher altitudes from June to early August (Scott 2022). The wet-meadow preferring southern populations of northern New Mexico are univoltine, flying from late June to early August (Cary and Toliver 2024).

Geographic Range

Back to top

The Tolland Silver-bordered Fritillary is a Neartic species with a relatively small range. Being first described in Tolland, Colorado, this subspecies can be found as north as northern Utah and as south as northern New Mexico, having sparse occurrences in Colorado and southernmost Wyoming (Cary and Toliver 2025). It can be found within wet meadows and seeps at elevations of 2.1 km and within mountainous regions between 2.4 km and 3.0 km (M. Fisher 2009). This butterfly is the southernmost subspecies within its species complex, something of concern as its parent species (Silver-bordered Fritillary) is a peat moss bog and wetlands specialist (Opler and Wright 1999, Glassberg 2001, Pyle 2002, Brock and Kaufman 2003).

Conservation Considerations

Back to top

No known conservation actions are being taken for this species. In 1998, this butterfly underwent a conservation assessment by NatureServe and was found to be apparently secure globally (NatureServe 2025). The population size and trend are not known for this butterfly but determination of this and other crucial information gathering on range size and life history will be essential for future conservation.

Threats

Back to top

As a wetland specialist residing in the arid southwestern United States; agriculture, grazing, mining, rapid warming and drying, and other anthropogenically driven events are all prominent threats to this butterfly’s survival. However, inbreeding depression is also a possible threat to be considered.

Anthropogenically driven climate changes threaten the Tolland Silver Bordered fritillary within its entire range. Documented changes in climate variables across the southwestern United States include increased average surface and soil temperatures as well as reduced rainfall, reduced snowpack, increased evaporation, lengthening and more frequent heatwaves, increased spread of introduced plant species, lengthened fire season, and prolonged droughts (McRoberts and Nielsen-Gammon 2010, Abatzoglou and Kolden 2011, Fincher 2012, Abatzoglou and Williams 2016, Vose et al. 2017, Perkins-Kirkpatrick and Lewis 2020, Pörtner et al. 2022). Several studies suggest butterfly abundance is falling in areas experiencing increasingly hot and dry conditions, such as the southwestern US and intermountain west (Crossely et al. 2021, Forister et al. 2021). The southwestern U.S. saw its driest 22-year period from 2000 to 2021, since at least 800 CE (the period used in previous climatic reconstructions) (Williams et al. 2022). Droughts are projected to become more prolonged, severe, and common in the region under future climate change scenarios (USGCRP 2018). Drought conditions are also capable of limiting larval host plant and adult nectar availability; for example, environmental stochasticity, especially variation in host quantity, quality, and phenology, is the major cause of other western U.S. Nymphalidae species extinction, particularly in small populations (Ehrlich & Murphy 1987). The impact of drought on butterfly populations is not well understood, though advanced timing to adulthood has been observed in species at low and high elevations (Forister et al. 2018). This may lead to phenological mismatch with plant resources. Drought may also adversely impact larval host plants and nectar sources; in warmer and drier years, the optimal window for herbivory is shortened (Pettorelli et al. 2007), and plant productivity is lower (Gottfried et al. 2012).

Another huge concern for this species is grazing. Though some argue grazing has no impact on this species and may even be beneficial due to decreased fire potential (fuel loads), there is some evidence that overgrazing may be harmful. For some butterflies, grazing also directly degrades the habitat by reducing the health and abundance of host plants (by as much as 60% in some studies) (McIntyre 2010) and promotes the spread of invasive species, which outcompete host plants and change the composition of vegetation communities (Souther et al. 2019). This butterfly’s host plants, the violets, though being widely distributed in the western U.S., occur in naturally scarce habitats, subjecting it to threats from development or excessive grazing or hydrological alteration (Hovanitz 1969, p. 20; Hammond and McCorkle 1983, p.219; Selby 2007, p. 22). Grazing not only limits host plant availability and degrades habitat but also causes direct mortality of caterpillars and eggs. For example, mortality of post-diapause larvae may be higher due to trampling; this has been observed in the Sacramento Mountains Butterfly (Pittenger and Yori 2003).

Inbreeding depression may also be a threat to this species. Inbreeding depression results when slightly deleterious alleles accumulate in a small population, reducing the likelihood of population persistence (Hedrick 1994, Lynch et al. 1995). The accumulation of deleterious alleles and reduction in heterozygosity have been shown to reduce survival rates at several important life stages in butterflies, including those that have an effect on population stability and persistence, even after just one generation of mating between full-siblings (Saccheri et al. 1998, Nieminen et al. 2001). Nieminen et al. (2001) also suggests that inbreeding depression may pose an even greater problem in populations currently experiencing rapid habitat fragmentation but with minimal inbreeding in the past. A reduction in fitness resulting from the loss of genetic diversity significantly increases the risk of extinction when populations are subject to environmental stress. Saccheri et al. (1998) found that microclimatic conditions combined with inbreeding caused the extinction of a checkerspot population in Finland, while Singer and Ehrlich (1979) found a combination of drought, fragmented habitat, and low dispersal rates contributed to the extinction of several checkerspot populations in California.

The Tolland Silver Bordered fritillary is primarily found within wet meadows and seeps throughout the southern rocky-mountains where anthropogenically-driven climate change has a variety of severe effects.

Population

Back to top

The population size and trend of the Tolland Silver Bordered fritillary are not known. Determination of population size and monitoring of population trends is necessary to ensure the population is stable. Especially as several widespread, relatively common species of butterfly are in decline across the western United States (Forister et al. 2021).

References

Back to top

Links: