Attracting California Sisters?

[Chris J. Durden]

  The best attractant for these large nymphaloids is fish emulsion. Soak
fish parts in a jug or bucket of water, in the sun for a week or two. Then
carefully ladle or pour into a bait cup or onto a sponge or onto bare
ground. Also good bait is chicken parts, floating in beer. Most of the
individuals attracted will be males, but if enough come you should get a
few females.
  In the butterfly garden, I find it useful to present pollard trees as
foodplant. Take a robust sapling, in this case an oak, and prune back to
about 4 foot height. Repeat this at intervals to ensure a lush growth of
suckers, with large soft leaves preferred for oviposition and feeding by
the young larvae. You may have to use a net over the foodplant to keep out
wrens, which will otherwise take your caterpillars.
  Check out the old paper (1940's) by Carpenter & Hobby in the Transactions
of the Royal Entomological Society, that investigates the structure and
taxonomy of this species. The authors show that it is not structurally an
*Adelpha* but falls in *Limenitis* closer to the type species *L. populi*
than do our American *Basilarchia* admirals. Carpenter & Hobby also
illustrate genitalic characters of several subspecies. To my eye *L.
californica* is the most distinctive of the lot. Taken together with wing
shape, ventral spot distribution on the hindwing, more northern
distributional tolerance, the genitalic difference suggests to me that *L.
californica* (CALIFORNIA SISTERS) is a distinct species from *L. bredowii
eulalia* (ORANGETIP ADMIRAL). There appears to be a large part of the
southern Great Basin from which niether has been reported.
...............Chris Durden


At 03:47  28/05/99 PDT, you wrote:
>Any suggestions for a sure fire California Sister attractant?  I saw several 
>in Redding, CA this last weekend while visiting Dad.  There was even one in 
>the oak tree across the street (right in their neighborhood!)
>
>I'd like to plant some sure fire attractants in my step mom's back yard.  
>Yeah... ok, I'd like to rear the lil critters but they never seem to want to 
>fly into my net.  I was hoping to find the one thing they couldn't resist 
>and give it to them.  I figure it's a reasonable bargain; they get 
>something, I get something.
>
>BTW-My only and favorite net is a 18" white collapsable from bioquip.  It 
>has three 2' aluminum extension poles.  Travels well, not too cumbersome.
>
>Best wishes...  Laurel
>
>
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