First Lepidoptera of 1998

Roger C. KENDRICK kendrick at hkusua.hku.hk
Fri Jan 16 05:57:19 EST 1998


Dr. James Adams wrote:
> 
> Dear Listers,
> 
>         I agree things have been a little slow, and so I'll put in a
> little update on the winter lep happenings here in north Georgia (the
> state in the U.S., not the former USSR republic nor part of the
> islands off the east coast of Argentina).  I am always interested in
> reading about what species are being encountered by other people at
> particular times during the year.
> 
In that case, an update from Hong Kong.
The holiday spell had (until yesterday) been very mild for the time of
year, with daytime max. around 23-26°C (74-81°F) and night minima around
15-18°C. These have dropped some 10°C, so that tonight should dip down
to around 7°C here in the New Territories (600 feet up on a hillside is
several degrees cooler than in the urban centres). Of the nights moth
data over the last two weeks, (five nights' trapping, including tonight)
only tonight will not reach 50 species (the total at 2 am was 4 species
- the cooler weather makes the catching more like that to which I'm used
to in the U.K. at this time of year!). Some species seen include the
Saturniid _Loepa sikkima_ (see
http://web.hku.hk/~kendrick/sat/loe_sikk.htm for details), several
species of _Hypena_ (Noctuidae), quite a few Ennominae geometrids
(including _Hypomecis transcissa_ -
http://web.hku.hk/~kendrick/geo/hyp_tran.htm) and even a few Pyralidae.
One of tonight's four species so far is the ubiquitous _Plutella
xylostella_ (diamond-back moth)

>           I was also intrigued by John's mention of a Gonepteryx
> rhamni in the UK on Jan. 9.  Is this species typical of most pierids,
> overwintering as a pupa and emerging in the spring? 
For those unfamiliar with this species, it overwinters as an adult -
indeed, it is one of Britain's longest lived species, emerging in July
and surviving right the way through to the following May or June
(sometimes even into early July). It is the original butter coloured
fly!!

> 
>            Mark Walker mentioned what he had seen in S. California.
> I must admit that a warm winter climate sounds great to me, and not
> just because of the leps
Hard to discount this observation.

happy butterfly & moth watching to all LEPS-L subscribers in 1998 and
the Year of the Tiger.

Roger.

________________________________________________
Roger C. KENDRICK
PhD student & Demonstrator, Dept of Ecology & Biodiversity
The University of Hong Kong
fax: (852) 24885285
mailto:kendrick at hkusua.hku.hk
http://web.hku.hk/~kendrick/hkmoth.htm   « Hong Kong Moths »
mail: Kadoorie Agricultural Research Centre
      The University of Hong Kong
      Lam Kam Road, Shek Kong,
      Yuen Long, New Territories
      Hong Kong


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