red admirals

[Pierre A Plauzoles]

In a previous article, MYTZ14A at prodigy.com (Sally Levinson) says:

>Has anyone ever seen a red admiral that was actually RED?  Around here,
>they all have orange stripes.  But I have heard that in places that the
>caterpillars feed on nettle, not pellitory, they actually have red
>stripes. Is that true?  I always wonder about how these insects get names
>that don't make sense to me...

I can't say I blame you.

The other day (March 20, I think), my daughter and I saw a red admiral in
our backyard.  Where they find the nettles (or even pellitory) I will
probably never know, but the wing band was reddish red-orange.  Although
I am certain there is some of both these hosts close enough to the central
part of Canoga Park that the red admiral we saw could have used it as a
larval host, I haven't the foggiest idea where that might be.  Aside from
that, since the red admiral is a fairly strong flyer, it might have come
quite a distance, therefore I have no way to check.
--
Pierre Plauzoles   ae779 at lafn.org
Canoga Park, California