Butterfly Conservation Press Release

[Glenn A. Gorelick]

Interesting observations on London butterflies, Neil.  I was rather
pleasantly surprised to learn this since I have visited London (between June
and July) once every ten or so years and have never seen too many
butterflies while there.  Of course, while using the British Museum of
Natural History, I saw plenty of them although they were not in flight, so
to speak!  :-)

Butterfly diversity is declining in many parts of Los Angeles County, CA,
however, although I collected Papilio cresphontes on the lantana growing
along my driveway last week. Additionally, since August 31, I have seen
several males and a female flying separately over a period of days in the
vicinity of the lemon tree growing in a chaparral-laden ravine behind my
house.  This species appears to have spread from Texas and Mexico into
Southern California in recent years, where it is now resident.  I remember
observing this species back in 1966 flying around in fields near Bard, CA
near the AZ border in the Imperial Valley (Colorado River area). There is an
abundance of citrus trees grown in the CA Imperial Valley.

Welcome to Southern California, orange dogs (or is that orange puppies?)....
get ready to pay the high resident/state taxes!

Glenn A. Gorelick
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Citrus College
Glendora, CA  91741