vannessa sp. rarity

[Jonathan Sylvestre]

I live at Manseau (a small town between Trois-Rivières and Québec)and I'm
asking me the same question; what to those two species ?

I caugth 1 female cardui in 1996 (the specimens was smaller and paler than
normal) I also caugth 1 male cardui in 1997 (freshly emerged specimens).
Since 1992, the 1998 are the first season that I saw more than 1 specimen of
cardui and/or virginiensis. In fact, I saw 4 cardui (I caugth 1/4) and a
dozen of virginiensis (I caugth 2 male and 2 female).

Maybe next years they will become as common as they were in 1992... I
hope...

If you are a collector, I will appreciate to have you like a contact for
exchange... Please e-mail me at Jonathan.Sylvestre at residences.ulaval.ca ...I
speak French

Jonathan Sylvestre
Quebec's lepidoptera Http://hermes.ulaval.ca/~residjos/Lepidoptera.htm
Home Page Http://hermes.ulaval.ca/~residjos/index.htm

Yan Boulanger a écrit dans le message
<369ACD4E.CD94F15D at globetrotter.net>...
>Hi!
>Since 1993, I saw only  3 specimens of Vanessa cardui (L.) and 2
>of the Vanessa virginiensis (Drury) specie even if I was almost always
>in the field for
>the past 5 summer (except this year).
>Species     / Year   1993       1994    1995           1996
>1997      1998
>Vanessa virginiensis   0          1(24/07)  0
>0          0         1(?/09)
>Vanessa cardui          0             0        3(25/07,
>0           0        0
>                                                        mid-august
>                                                        and   21/08)
>
>I know that these species are supposed to be common or very common but
>they are cyclic.
>Also, I heard that a polyedre sickness was presented sometimes on the
>caterpillar
>of those two species and can kill a great number of caterpillars in a
>matter of days.
>Is it the case for the past 5 years?
>Maybe they have just migrated from our region (Bas-St-Laurent, Qc. Ca.).
>
>I would like to know if is it the same in your region (in america).
>Thx, Yan Boulanger
>