Releases: enough for now (fwd)

[Julie K. Stahlhut]

In a previous article, bretcal at gte.net (John V. Calhoun) says:

>> > from: Robert M. Pyle
>
>*The arguments have been made and made again. As a biogeographer,
>my chief point (in short) is that we cannot learn what indigenous
>butterflies do and where they go, in concert with the winds and changing
>habitats, by shifting them about from one place to another. This isn't
>politics: it is natural history.*
>
>Thanks, Bob
>
>Best,
>John
>

I've reared leps on a small scale, as a hobbyist, for years, and
also encourage friends to do the same.  One of the first things I tell
people is that reared butterflies should only be released at or very
near the site where the parents/eggs/larvae were found.  (Besides
being a lep hobbyist, I'm a biology graduate student with a strong
interest in population genetics, and I definitely agree that "transplants"
should not be taken lightly.)

I have bought commercial "butterfly kits" with Painted Lady (Vanessa
cardui) larvae as birthday gifts for the children of friends and
relatives.  Since V. cardui is nomadic, and these kits have been
around for years, are there any plausible objections to this practice?
I am assuming that a release of V. cardui in an area which lacks a
large population at the time would depress the chances that the released
adults would breed at all, never mind outbreed, but since they're
bred commercially under presumably clean conditions, that this is
unlikely to harm any population.  In seriousness -- is there any evidence
to the contrary?

For what it's worth, I do encourage friends to make their own (cheaper)
enclosures and work with locally-caught butterflies; it's just that those
kits are great for getting kids (and adults) hooked on butterflies, since
the caterpillars need almost no care, and the enclosures that get shipped
with the kits are both attractive and re-usable.

Julie
--
Julie K. Stahlhut, Portable Curmudgeoness    julie.stahlhut at wmich.edu

         Real Butterflies Don't Kiss!
                   -- Entomologists Against Wimp-Rock