Phyciodes batesii

[Alan Wormington]

The southern Ontario habitat of those sites where the species is no
longer found are all about the same:  Rolling land with small hills, clay
soil, old "overgrown" fields with scattered bushes such as dogwood etc. 
All sites were areas that historically had been cleared (for farming, or
whatever), then left alone.  These sites were very dry (due to good
drainage and clay soils) and were on the outskirts of various towns, etc.
 One site definately was destroyed due to a housing development, but the
habitat at the other sites is essentially unchanged from decades past. 
All sites have been investigated in modern times -- the fact that the
species has disappeared from ALL of these sites indicates that the
problem is not one of habitat loss, but clearly something else. 
Furthermore, there are lots of other areas with suitable habitat in
southern Ontario, but no Tawny Crescents.

Alan Wormington
Leamington, Ontario

On Thu, 13 Jul 2000 10:06:08 -0500 "Chris J. Durden"
<drdn at mail.utexas.edu> writes:
> Interesting. Sounds more like a parasite or a pathogen than an
> environmental change? Can you describe some of the sites, habitat 
> types,
> land use changes?
> ..........Chris Durden
> 
> At 04:46  13/07/00 -0400, you wrote:
> >Re Tawny Crescent:
> >
> >The species has disappeared from several sites in southern Ontario. 
>  The
> >sites do not appear to have changed much over the years and
> >over-collecting (or any collecting) has certainly not been a 
> factor. 
> >Therefore, one must assume that something else is the cause -- it 
> should
> >also be noted that Silvery Checkerspot also occurred at these same 
> sites,
> >but this species has also vanished.
> >
> >Alan Wormington
> >Leamington, Ontario
> > 
> 

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