Phyciodes texana seminole host plant
Paulette Haywood
habitatdesigns at hotmail.com
Thu Jun 22 14:25:39 EDT 2000
I am trying to solve a puzzle related to Texan crescents (Phyciodes texana
seminole) and their larval food plant. The population I am looking at
occurs along the banks of the Alabama River in Montgomery County, Alabama.
A friend has observed them there for several years and has only seen them
along one narrow sandy beach at the base of a cut bank. This year I have
made several trips and after repeated searches up and down the river have
also found them only in this one small area. Water willow (Justicia
americana) abounds along many sections of the river, but none is near this
spot. While Ruellia occurs sporadically along some of the banks, I have
been able to locate none near this spot. In short, I can find nothing that
seems to belong to the Acanthus family. Up the bank are large stands of
Wingstem (Verbesina) but it is my understanding that this is a host for
Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) rather than P.t. seminole. I am
puzzled as to why this small population seems to exist only in this spot
when other areas of the river have so much Justicia. Does anyone have any
thoughts about what other hosts for P.t. seminole might be?
Thanks,
Paulette Haywood
Birmingham, AL
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
More information about the Leps-l
mailing list