Queen in NJ: what should its status be

[Grkovich, Alex]

Queens have been seen all up and down the Mississippi Valley, also in sw
Ohio and now in southern Michigan. To me, it is not at all a stretch to
suspect that they would stray into New Jersey.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Michael Gochfeld [SMTP:gochfeld at EOHSI.RUTGERS.EDU]
> Sent:	Tuesday, July 31, 2001 6:13 AM
> To:	leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Cc:	dmoskowi at ecolsciences.com; hootowls5 at home.com; springer at naba.org;
> gochfeld at EOHSI.RUTGERS.EDU
> Subject:	Queen in NJ: what should its status be
> 
> With regard to David Moskowitz' recent photographing of a Queen (Danaus 
> gilippus) in central New Jersey,  Jim Springer wrote: 
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Mike,
> 
> I imagine that this Queen has been human assisted.  Do you know of any 
> other reports from NJ?
> 
> Thanks,
> Jim
> =====================================================
> GOCHFELD'S RESPONSE
> 
> Jim,
> 
> I know of no other records from NJ. It sounds like a reasonable thing to 
>  "imagine" that it was human assisted, but there's no reason why strong 
>  flying Danaus butterflies couldn't show up out of range. 
> 
> One kind of assist might be school releases, but I don't know whether 
> Queens are widely used for such purposes. 
> 
> David looked closely to see what might be a "fingerprint", but 
> apparently concluded it probably wasn't.  Also the photographs show an 
> extremely fresh individual, suggesting a local emergence rather than a 
> long-distance flight. 
> 
> Therefore another more likely kind might be horticultural trade in 
> Milkweeds.  We  are beginning to see Scarlet Milkweed (Asclepias 
> curassavica) in nurseries. If plants are brought up from a more 
> tropical region for sale here, they could easily transport a 
> caterpillar unharms.  I bought a Pipevine at a Florida nursery and when 
> I got it home (NJ) it had six Polydamas larvae on it. They devoured the 
> plant thereby committing suicide---so no inadvertent introduction there. 
> 
> There have been other southern vagrants in NJ and neighboring states, 
> going back a century or more, when presumably human assists would have 
> been less frequent.   
> 
> The term "vagrant" implies that the creature got to an unusual location 
> on its own, so perhaps the term "accidental" is less value laden, since 
>  it makes no judgement as to how the occurrence occurred. 
> 
> Anyway it's a fascinating record and the suggestion that it might be a 
> "western" source will prompt closer scrutiny of David's photos. Perhaps 
> those on the leps-list will email David and invite him to email the 
> photos to them for examination. 
> 
> Mike Gochfeld
> 
> 
> 
> =====================================================
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Moskowitz [mailto:Dmoskowi at ecolsciences.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 9:14 AM
> To: springer at naba.org
> Cc: sightings at naba.org
> Subject: Queen in central NJ!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Dear Jim: I found and photographed a male Queen (yes a Queen) in East
> Windsor, NJ yesterday. The butterfly was nectaring on swamp milkweed,
> canada thistle, and dogbane in a wet meadow/old field. I have great
> photos of the upper and lower surfaces. I can't find any records for
> this species in NJ. Burger and Gochfield don't list it, even as
> accidental, the USGS web page doesn't show NJ records or even anything 
> closer than NC, the Mulberry Wing NY sightings don't include it, and 
> it's don't listed as a rare stray in the Butterflies of Delmarva. 
> 
> I assume, it is either a release, an escape, or possibly a stray. The 
> wher I found it, is only about 1/4 mile from exit 8 on the turnpike and 
> there are really only farm fields and a little development in between. 
> Maybe it was carried along by a truck or other vehicle?
> 
> Now for some details on the butterfly. It was nectaring and patrolling. 
> I watched it and photographed it for about 10 minutes before I lost it 
> flew through some very dense rose and I lost it. I could not relocate 
> it. Unfortunately I did not realize how unusual the sighting was until I 
> got home last night and started checking its distribution out. 
> Otherwise, I probably would have collected it. But, I did take detailed 
> field notes and nice close up photos.
> 
> The butterfly is in very good condition. It has a very slight tear (beak 
> mark?) on the hind wing margin. There is some loss of scales on the
> upper surface of one forewing and a series of lines on the other that 
> could suggest the lines of a fingerprint. However, there is no evidence 
> on the photos of scale loss on the underside of the wing opposite these 
> areas of scale loss on the upper side that would suggest that someone 
> had held the wings. I would think that holding the wings in such a way 
> that would create an impression of the lines of a fingerprint on one 
> surface would certainly remove scales on the other surface. I think I'm 
> going to try it with a monarch and see what happens.  The butterfly also
> has pretty distinct white scaling along the black veins of the
> undersurface of the hindwing.  My books seem to suggest that this is 
> related to the western populations of the species.
> 
> .
> 
> Dave Moskowitz       
> 
> 
> 
>  
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