American Ladies in the East

[Ron Gatrelle]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Crolla/Martha Hancock" <jeff at primus.ca>
To: "Leps List" <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Cc: <gochfeld at EOHSI.RUTGERS.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 1:50 AM
Subject: Re: American Ladies in the East

snip
> Michael's comments on the question of overwintering were interesting. In
> 1984 Opler & Krizek (Butterflies east of the Great Plains) gave
virginiensis
> as resident throughout the eastern US but Opler revised this in 1992
> (Peterson Guide to eastern Butterflies) to resident in the SE U.S. only
and
> an immigrant to the E/NE U.S. and southern Canada. The literature is
> contradictory on this point. For example Shapiro (1974 Butterflies and
> skippers of NY state) reported virginiensis as somewhat migratory but
> overwintering regulary in NY state. Iftner et al. (1992 Butterflies and
> Skippers of Ohio) similarily describe it as resident and occasionally
> migratory in Ohio, whereas more recently Allen for example (1997
Butterflies
> of West Virginia) says it is a spring immigrant as far south as W.
virginia.

No, it is an immigrant as far WEST as W. VA.
When I lived in Iowa, California, and Florida I use to think strictly in
terms of north south about the southeast U.S. Now that I have lived in the
"Carolinas" for over thirty years I no longer think that way. The life
zones in this area (from South Carolina through Virginia) go southeast to
northwest or east to west much much more than north/south. There is a
distinct coastal zone all the way to New Jersey, a very unique Sandhills
region from GA into NC, the Piedmont and Appalachian mountains. This part
of the US is much like California with east west zones between the ocean
and the mtns. A big difference here is that the Atlantic Ocean is warm. One
should remember that "tropical" Bermuda is at the same latitude as
Charleston, SC! There is a unique semi subtropical Island zone from
Jacksonville, Fla to Myrtle Beach, SC. There are several leps endemic to
that area such as  A. midea midea and  M. g. smilacis.

So it is misleading to say these Vanessa are "resident" of the Southeast .
The bottom line is that these species will not "overwinter" in the Canadian
zone from northern GA north but may in coastal Virginia!   Boloria bellona
flies in north Georgia and western  South Carolina! (I am the person who
first recorded it in both states.) On the other hand Lethe creola is a
resident of Virginia. Go to Opler and Krizek and note the ranges of species
in the Southeast: S. diana, S. cybele, E. claudia, P. faunus, and my
favorite for this point Hesperia attalus.

Ron


 
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