Subspecies and protection

[Paul Cherubini]

Ken Philip wrote:

> That was not my recollection of the paper. As I recall it (could
> be wrong, of course--that was 14 years ago) they stated that the 
> Monarchs were trapped simply by the presence of the proper 
> humidity and temperature conditions for their hibernation in 
> certain gullies at the base of the mountains--irrespective of the 
> height of the mountains.

The humidity when I've visited the Saline Valley desert monarch
overwintering sites at midday has been in the 5 - 20% range 
(unless a rare Pacific storm was blowing in). This range
is typical for the Mojave desert in late fall and winter and 
a far cry from the 50-100% midday humidity found at the
monarch overwintering sites along the California coast.

Similar very dry humidity conditions prevail at two other small 
Mojave desert monarch overwintering sites in southern California: 
Anza Borrego (discovered by Mark Walker) and Palm Springs.

Paul Cherubini, Placerville, Calif.