mourning cloak hosts

[Soren Nylin]

At 12:20 1998-07-01 -0700, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>> >I can confirm that Mourning Cloaks do use elm trees. 
>
>Okay.  Thanks to all who wrote to me and gave me this info. Learn
>something every day. 
>
>> I wonder how in the world he could have missed the most common food plant. 
>
>Well, in my old neck of the woods, Wisconsin, the most common food plant
>is willows and aspens. I say again, I have never seen N. antiopa on elm,
>but I'm not _really_ a butterfly person (though I like Erebia and Oenis a 
>lot, and do collect others), so if you say it is so, great!
>
>This was a side point, and I wish someone would address the references
>request.
>
>Cheers!
>Jim Kruse

A bit more on this interesting side point: N. antiopa do not use elm in
Europe either, at least only very rarely (but larvae survive on it).
Instead Betula (birch) and Salix (sallow, willows) is used (aspen is
related to Salix, but not used in Europe).  I suspect that the antiopa
populations in Europe, Asia, Alaska, Canada and Northern USA (including
Wisconsin!) may be genetically similar, because of historical gene flow
from Eurasia, but different from more southern American populations, which
seem to use many more food plants and are also potentially multivoltine,
with more than one generations per year. These populations may originate
historically from a more southern ice age refuge. Any thoughts on this from
anyone? Any observations of host plants in support or against?

Best regards

Soren



Soren Nylin
Lecturer/Associate Professor of Animal Ecology
http://www.zoologi.su.se/research/Evolutionary_page.html

Coordinator of graduate courses in Ecology, Ethology and Evolution
http://www.zoologi.su.se/education/PhD-BIOLOGY/biohome.html

Department of Zoology
Stockholm University
S-106 91 Stockholm
SWEDEN

Soren.Nylin at zoologi.su.se
Tel +46-8-164033	Fax 167715