endangered luna moths?

[Mark Walker]

Pierre wrote:

> Even the loss of popularity of a particular plant often used as an
> ornamental that might happen to be a host can have a devastating effect
> on the status of a species.  I am thinking of the fall from favor of
> pipevine (Aristolochia sp) here in southern California several decades
> ago, which left the pipevine swallowtail with no host to speak of in
> southern California at all.

I always wondered about this.  Just as I dreamt of Luna moths as a child in
SoCal, the supposed records of the stunning Pipevine Swallowtail within the
L.A. basin used to frustrate the heck out of me.  This was in 1968, so I am
sure they are even less common (if they exist there at all).  I just assumed it
was a misprint in the field guide (but then, I thought the Edward's and Indra
Swallowtails were a figment of someone's imagination as well).  I'll never
forget my first sighting - near Oroville, CA.  Still my favorite U.S. Lep.

Mark Walker