[Ctleps-l] Cove Island Park

Rick rcech at nyc.rr.com
Sun Oct 22 18:42:45 EDT 2017


The abundance of late season butterflies continues.  At Cove Island Park in
Stamford, a coastal site close to the NY state line, 8 species:

 

Cabbage White               15+

Orange Sulphur              12 

Cloudless Sulphur            1

Painted Lady                   10

Common Buckeye          25+

Monarch                          30

Fiery Skipper                   25+ (both sexes)

Ocola Skipper                    1

 

Monarch numbers were declining, as a Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinensis) sat
near a flowerhead, lunging at them as they landed, then devouring them (I
saw one Monarch escape after being attacked, but others were not so lucky). 

 

Chinese Mantises have often been observed preying on Monarchs. They aren't
deterred by the toxins (leap at the Monarchs the moment they land), and from
the way they chow away at the butterfly, top to bottom like a buzzsaw (as
with other hapless victims), it doesn't appear as if they are avoiding toxic
areas, although maybe they keep to the insides and avoid the exoskeletons.
There is evidence that these mantises avoid eating the guts of Monarch
caterpillars, possibly as a means of avoiding toxins
[https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov_pubmed_28300580&d=DwICAg&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=DxSBJXRvd7MQp-AlXAtLeydve7SiywLWLcinsn9EdPE&m=C665Ajl6Nrd2xhMDLIzx_4zEtQmuW7wF-rmeOQ6ab8A&s=7QXxwH0f6kydKrXn5lY-DVUe72Yj5SyEh-x1Xw5OgW4&e=], but I'm not sure the full
story is known concerning adults. 

 

Anyway, hope the good run of late butterflies continues.

 

Rick Cech, Emily Peyton & Peter Joost

 

P.S.  I'm hearing stories of fresh Juniper Hairstreaks and late swallowtail
broods (several species) in recent days. What's next?

 

 

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