alien butterfly in my garden

[Grkovich, Alex]

The Queen has recently (within the past 3 to 5 years) been recorded twice
from southern Michigan. I wonder whether they were strays or escapes. One
would hope they were strays.....


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Robert Thorn [SMTP:thorn at denison.edu]
> Sent:	Tuesday, August 14, 2001 5:32 PM
> To:	fnjjk1 at uaf.edu
> Cc:	leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Subject:	Re: alien butterfly in my garden
> 
> On 8/14/01 9:56 AM, "James Kruse" <fnjjk1 at uaf.edu> wrote:
> 
> > A friend in Madison, Wisconsin has a Heliconius charitonius (Zebra
> > butterfly) that was caught within the city limits of Madison several
> years
> > ago. This butterfly has strayed as far north as SW Illinois in the past,
> but
> > he caught it about 2 blocks from the local butterfly house that did have
> H.
> > charitonius in it at the time. I've been in this butterfly house, and it
> has
> > pretty good butterfly security. There are double doors to the outside,
> then
> > a foyer and gift shop, then another set of doors into the butterfly
> area.
> > However, I suspect there is a crack somewhere rather than this being a
> real
> > stray. 
> > 
> > I like Ken Philip's idea of punching a _small_ (smaller than paper
> puncher)
> > circular hole in one of the hindwings (in the discal cell or something)
> for
> > all live butterflies brought outside their normal range (including
> school
> > reared Vanessa in Fairbanks, AK, for example). I suppose that might
> "ruin" a
> > few butterfly house pictures, but if folks had the reasons properly
> > explained to them (and they cared about bioinventories and their
> importance)
> > they may be more accepting of it.
> > 
> > A Zebra (of any type) that naturally found its way to Wisconsin would be
> a
> > significant find! Too bad there is a lot of doubt about the one that was
> > found.
> > 
> > Regards,
> > James J. Kruse, Ph.D.
> > Curator of Entomology
> > University of Alaska Museum
> > 907 Yukon Drive
> > Fairbanks, AK, USA 99775-6960
> > tel 907.474.5579
> > fax 907.474.1987
> > http://www.uaf.edu/museum/ento
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > on 8/13/01 10:49 AM, Charles V. Covell at covell at louisville.edu wrote:
> > 
> >> Yesterday, Sunday Aug. 12, I went out of the house to check the garden
> for my
> >> periodic count of butterfly species.  There on a peony leaf stood what
> turned
> >> out to be a _Heliconius ismenius_, too far out of its range in Central
> to
> >> South America to be a migrant.  Howver, about 3 miles from our house
> the
> >> Louisville Zoo is operating a butterfly house this summer, Martin
> Feather in
> >> charge.  Some coincidence that this Heliconiine flew that far from its
> point
> >> of escape at the zoo to land in the back yard of just about the only
> person
> >> in
> >> Louisville, KY beside Martin who would note this as an alien.  Kind of
> makes
> >> me wonder how many escapees there are over there!  Anyone else have or
> know
> >> about a similar occurrence?  Cheers, Charlie
> >> 
> >> 
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> 
> >> For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:
> >> 
> >> http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> >  For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:
> > 
> >  http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl
> > 
> > 
> Several years back I volunteered to docent the butterfly house at the Ohio
> State Fair here in Columbus.  It's an outdoor enclosure, but has double
> doors and most of the anti-escape devices.  Yet, on my lunch break I
> strolled down to a planted garden of prairie plants about .2 mile away,
> and
> there flitting among the coneflowers was a Queen.  There's been only one
> valid record for Queen in Ohio (from Columbus, oddly enough).  Yet there
> were several Queens flying in the butterfly house.  Given that this one
> was
> in fairly good condition, I had little doubt from whence it came.  It
> might
> be very useful for butterfly display houses to mark their butterflies in
> some way.  The wings could be nicked or punched, but that might affect
> their
> flying ability or aesthetic value.  A more ingenious solution would be to
> dab some UV-reflective paint on them, as that wouldn't change their
> appearance (to us at least).
> 
> Rob Thorn
> 
> 
>  
>  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
> 
>    For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:
> 
>    http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl 
>  

 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl