butterfly attraction

David R. Britton davidb at uow.edu.au
Thu Nov 13 18:00:42 EST 1997


In article <199711122356.PAA11825 at cats-po-1>, crazykat at cats.ucsc.edu wrote:

> Do the same properties which attract Australian butterflies to plants in
> Australia also work to attract native butterflies elsewhere?  (For
> example, could an Australian butterfly attracting nectar or host plant be
> an attractive nectar or host plant for a native Californian butterfly?)
> (Or any other country for example)
> Katy
>
>
>
> Katy Bigelow
> crazykat at cats.ucsc.edu
> ****

I'm not sure if I am mis-interpreting the question, given the answers that
others have contributed to this thread, but if your are talking about
attracting adult butterflies to flowers for the purpose of them taking
nectar from flowers, yes, there is definitely a cross-over.  Some of the
most attractive plants in Australia are introduced species such as
Buddleia and Lantana.

Unfortunately, these are not host plants for anything, and I imagine there
would be little cross-over between different countries in regard to host
plant species (with the exception of common weeds like milkweed etc. and
the associated butterfly species).  You might be attracting adults with
nectar sources, but they wouldn't be breeding on the introduced plants.

hope this helps,

Dave B.

--
David R. Britton, Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong
Wollongong, NSW, Australia, 2522.
Ph.(61-2) 4221 3436,Fax.(61-2) 4221 4135


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