Vanessa atalanta update - UK

Martin Honey M.Honey at nhm.ac.uk
Tue Jul 6 04:55:17 EDT 1999


Hi Guy (and others)
 
>For the first time in a couple of weeks (the sun has been only shining when
>I had to work), I was out yesterday. One thing I noticed was that despite
>good numbers of the seasonal butterflies (Maniola jurtina, Melanargia
>galathea, Aphantopus hyperantus, the normal pierids), there were almost no
>Nymphalinae out. There was a single Vanessa atalanta, but that was all, and
>though I've been looking for caterpillars of Aglais urticae and Inachis io,
>I couldn't find any.
>I'm in the Heidelberg - Germany area, is this true for the rest of W. Europe
>too ?
 
Over the weekend here in London I saw several V. atalanta, including one
ovipositing. I too have seen few nymphalids recently, a few peacock (I. io)
but virtually no small tortoiseshell (A. urticae). On all the patches of
nettle (Urtica dioica) that I know about I've not seen a single urticae
larva and only one batch of io larvae (actually quite a large number of
larvae and all nearly full grown). The most frequently seen species of
nymphalid was the comma (P. c-album).
 
Martin
***********************************************************
Martin R. Honey CBiol MIBiol, Lead Curator (Moths)
Collections Management Division, Department of Entomology
The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road
London, SW7 5BD, Great Britain
EMAIL:     M.Honey at nhm.ac.uk
 
All Museum telephone numbers changed on 5 July 1999, my new
numbers will be:
TELEPHONE: 020 7942 5604     International: 44 20 7942 5604
FAX:       020 7942 5229     International: 44 20 7942 5229
 
Until 22 April 2000, if dialling from within Central London,
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