I visited Alaska from July 09 - August 12 2007, and while there waiting to work, I managed to fit in some lepping. Overall it was rather disappointing, in that almost nothing was flying - at least in the lowland/forest areas I visited. I gather that in early Spring there was a short warm spell followed by prolonged very cold weather - this may have caused a die-off of eggs/larvae - ?
The small pockets of activity were all above the treeline, and my access to such areas was limited to those places with roads going up to that habitat:- Flat Top Mountain in Chugach State Park on the southeast edge of Anchorage;
Arctic Valley Ski Resort, located opposite Fort Richardson, northeast of Anchorage; Hatcher Pass, located northwest of Palmer.
With the exception of two individuals (a white-morph female Clouded Sulphur C. philodice, plus a Silver-bordered Fritillary B. selene that I've seen in the U.K.), every butterfly was new to me, so I have a number of identification issues - thus all IDs stated for the following bugs are tentative pending confirmation:-
Update June 2008: I have amended these pages to reflect IDs provided by Kenelm Philip:
lepsAK01: a series of Phoebus Parnassians P. phoebus - not sure of the sex for most of them...
lepsAK02: male and female of Margined White P. marginalis.
lepsAK03: a Hecla Sulphur C. hecla from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK04: a Labrador Sulphur C. nastes from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK05: Palaeno Sulphurs C. palaeno from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK18: a presumed Clouded Sulphur C. philodice from above the treeline near Anchorage - added July 09, 2008 .
lepsAK06: male and female Dorcas Coppers L. dorcas from the Kenai Pennisula.
lepsAK07: worn Northern Blues L. idas from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK08: worn Arctic Blues P. glandon from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK09: male and female Cranberry Blues P. optilete yukona from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK17: worn Common Ringlets C. tullia from above the treeline near Anchorage - added July 09, 2008 .
lepsAK10: numerous Mormon Fritillaries S. mormonia from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK11: some Purplish/Arctic Fritillaries B. chariclea from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK16: three Mountain Fritillaries B. alaskensis from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK13: a Silver-bordered Fritillary B. selene from the Kenai Peninsula.
lepsAK14: a Milbert's Tortoiseshell N. milberti from above the treeline near Anchorage.
lepsAK15: an Arctic Skipperling C. palaemon from the Kenai Peninsula.