Got your permits??

[Paul Cherubini]

Chris Conlan wrote:
> 
> Not to jump on Michael here (I know he is just trying to assist and make a
> couple bucks in the process).  It's things like "No giant swallowtails in CA
> because they will eat all the citrus" that just don't make sense to me.
> Giant swallowtails (P. cresphontes) already live in S. CA and I don't see
> the citrus growers shaking with fear when they fly over.  

John Emmel, a famous southern California lepidopterist, reported
the Giant Swallowtail has been established in the Los Angeles
area since at least the 1950's. It has never been a significant citrus pest
in all that time. Similarly, a University of Florida website
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~insect/CITRUS/giantswallowtail.htm
reports: "The larva is the well-known "orangedog" and is
considered a minor pest of orange.

> Just seems like
> a waste of time and paper to bother regulating the flow of such common
> species within their natural range.

And thus far the USDA has refused to publicly respond to the question
of how the public interest is served by regulating the interstate movement of
abundant butterfly species' with nationwide distributions that are 
not pests of agricultural crops.  

Paul Cherubini