mourning cloak hosts

[Soren Nylin]

At 09:02 1998-07-02 -0400, you wrote:
>Here in east Tennessee we find Mourning cloaks most frequently used
>foodplant is Celtis sp.  They are rarely seen on any other host plant.
>I have gotten specimens for AZ which would not touch any other foodplant
>other than Salix.  So it appears are regional host relationships. 
>
>These are just some observations I have made over the past few years.
> 
>PAUL WEAVER
> 

Thanks, I'll add this information to my database. So far, it seems correct
that elm and Celtis (also an Ulmaceae) are only used regularly in the
south. Do you happen to know if nettle (Urtica) or hops (Humulus) are ever
natural host plants? And one more thing: if you would get your hands on an
egg batch of antiopa from Tennesee at some point I would be very much
interested in including this poulation in our survey of potential host
plants for species of Polygonia, Nymphalis and relatives. We use a range of
host plants used in this group: Urtica, Ulmus, Humulus, Salix, Betula,
Ribes, Prunus, Vaccinium, and check which ones newly hatched larvae can
survive on to pupation. So far we have tested larvae of about 25 species of
butterflies in this clade (Nymphalini) clade, and two different populations
of antiopa (Sweden and Washington). The latter two were exactly similar,
thriving on Salix and Betula, surviving on Ulmus and to some extent Urtica
and Humulus. It would be interesting to compare this pattern with larvae
from SE USA, so think of me if you see a female looking ready to oviposit! 

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