Vulcan Tiger Moth @ Gómez Farías , Tamps - 4-X-1986

[Doug Yanega]

>There are certainly lots of rare bug and lep records from Tamaulipas,
>Mexico. Here's a specimen of a tiger moth that apparently falls into
>that category. It was collected by Jesús García Jiménez, a biologist
>at the Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Victoria. Texas Lepidoptera
>Survey provided the determination. Thanks all!

Having collected in that exact locality myself, I can happily attest 
to the remarkable fauna (well more than just the leps) of Rancho El 
Cielo in Gómez Farías - it represents an extreme northward extension 
of some very tropical elements, almost literally at their absolute 
limit: just a matter of kilometers farther north, the habitat 
changes, and that's that. This sort of biogeographic pattern is quite 
dramatic in that general region of Mexico (especially in San Luís 
Potosí), where one can go from tropical lowland jungle fauna/flora to 
temperate pine/oak woodlands simply by driving about 20 km along a 
highway that changes elevation and cuts across the interdigitated 
stripes of different ecotypes. There are some truly special places 
there, and one can only hope that they are recognized as such, and 
given some measure of protection accordingly.

Peace,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82


 
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