Phoebis sennae (Cloudless Sulphur) in New Jersey, ETC.

[Chip Taylor]

On 30 August I reported that:
"Relatively large numbers (10's of thousands) of the Coludless sulfur,
Phoebis sennae, have been moving through eastern Kansas (Lawrence and
vicinity) and western Missouri (KCI) since at least the 20th of August.
Directional flight usually occurs from 9AM until 4-5PM if the skies are
clear or cloud cover is less than 50%. The headings are generally 120-140
degrees."

This flight continues. The butterflies are maintaining the same headings
(120-140 degrees) day after day. The reports from other locations,
particularly the one from Cape May,.

" An incredible flight of Cloudless Sulphurs, a
>southern butterfly, has been noted in 1998. A count of over 1,400
>NORTHBOUND sulphurs was made in three hours along Delaware Bay in Villas on
>September 6 and across the bay in Delaware at Indian River Inlet, 440 were
>tallied in just five minutes."

indicate the sennae are heading in different directions in the east and SE
from what they are doing in eastern KS. North and south are a bit too
general as descriptors of what is going on. It seems to me it would be
useful to persuade some students to record these flights and headings for
sennae (and those of other migratory insects)  and to have them placed in
an archive at a central source - a web site perhaps.


Monarch Watch
Email:  monarch at ukans.edu
WWW:  http://www.MonarchWatch.org/
Dplex-L:  send message "info Dplex-L" to Listproc at ukans.edu
Phone:  1 (888) TAGGING (toll-free!) -or- 1 (785) 864 4441
Fax:  1 (785) 864 4441 -or- 1 (785) 864 5321
Snail:  c/o O.R. Taylor, Dept. of Entomology, Univ. of KS, Lawrence KS 66045