Vanessa at night - migrations

[Kenelm Philip]

> I actually have a record from the summit of Mt. Whitney from 1970.

An ALS* volunteer brought in 4 specimens of _Colias palaeno_ from the McCall
Glacier, north side of Romanzov Mountains, eastern Brooks Range, Alaska, in
1969 and 1970. Elevations were from 5500 to 6500 feet. This is not a
species noted for high elevations here--I'm inclined to think these
individuals may have been blown up the glacier.

John Edwards, now at the University of Washington, did a lot of work on
insect fallout on high-altitude snow patches. Many of these were blown up
to high elevations, and were then trapped in the snow by being chilled.
It turned out that this mechanism was the major source of phosphorus in
the high alpine ecosystem in the Colorado Rockies.

So the presence of butterflies at high elevations may not indicate control-
led flight in all cases...

							Ken Philip

* Alaska Lepidoptera Survey




 
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