P.sennae

[Patrick Foley]

On Tue, 8 Sep 1998, John Grehan wrote:

> 
> Dave Bouton made the following statement
> 
> wings help in escape and finding mates, their main purpose is to disperse
> the species -- spread it around --colonize greater and greater areas, put
> eggs in
>  new places.
> 
> Perhaps it seems too trivial, but I am not aware of any empirical evidence
> that it dispersal and colonization is the main purpose of butterfly wings
> (or that
> wings have any purpose at all).
> 
>  John Grehan
> 
> 

Dear Leplist,

The empirical work of Susan Harrison on checkerspots in California 
serpentine habitats and Ilkka Hanski on the Glanville fritillary supports 
an important role for migration in maintaining widespread patchy 
populations of butterflies. See Thomas and Hanski 1997 In Hanski and 
Gilpin 1997, Metapopulation Biology.

patrick foley
patfoley at csus.edu
>