American mistletoe

Mark Walker MWalker at gensym.com
Mon Dec 28 12:20:16 EST 1998


Just as Anne has mentioned, the Great Purple Hairstreak feeds on mistletoe,
and therefore spends most of it's life cycle out of view of the average
person (at least in locations where the parasite grows up high in the
canopy).  Interestingly, pupation occurs in the ground below the host tree,
thus the insect can be most easily found during this stage.  

The range of the butterfly includes a good portion of the southern U.S.,
Mexico, and into Latin America.  There are at least three subspecies
recognized in the U.S., but all three are equally stunning - it is arguably
the most extravagantly adorned North American butterfly, with metallic blue,
gold, red, green, and black scaling.

I have seen it in numbers in central Florida, but it is apparently limited
for some reason from the southernmost counties in Florida.  I have seen the
western race in both Arizona and California in locations where the mistletoe
grows closer to the ground.  The adults will nectar on flowers and also
drink from moist sand, but they don't usually stay low to the ground for
very long.

Hope this helps, and I hope you get a chance to see this piece of work some
day.

Mark Walker.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Harriett Wright [SMTP:harriett at ix.netcom.com]
> Sent:	Saturday, December 26, 1998 8:53 PM
> To:	leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Subject:	American mistletoe
> 
> Somewhere I got the notion that American mistletoe is the larvae food
> of a butterfly native to Florida, but I've dug through my references
> and can't find a mention of this.  Can anyone straighten me out?
> 
> Thanks,
> Harriett


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