Search

Start Over Language English Subject butterflies

41. The Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta, Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) is a true seasonal migrant: an evolutionary puzzle resolved?

Creator:
Mikkola, Kauri
Type:
article, model:article, and TEXT
Subject:
Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta, Monarch, Danaus plexippus, butterflies, Lepidoptera, migrations, and air
Language:
English
Description:
Ornithologists in Finland recorded the autumn migration of the Red Admiral butterfly, Vanessa atalanta (L.). In the best year, 1998, 1240 migrants were counted from a bird tower in September. That is, half a million butterflies migrated over a 100-km front. The butterflies were flying above forests riding on cool northerly winds. Radar indicated that a large proportion migrated at high elevations outside the visible range. These records help to resolve an "evolutionary puzzle" of why migrant butterflies and moths travel to northern latitudes when their offspring have limited possibilities of returning south. Until now, the only butterfly for which a high-elevation return migration on northerly winds is known is the American Monarch Danaus plexippus (L.).
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ and policy:public

42. Variation in the morphology of the wings of the endangered grass-feeding butterfly Coenonympha oedippus (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in response to contrasting habitats

Creator:
Jugovic, Jure, Zupan, Sara, Bužan, Elena, and Čelik, Tatjana
Format:
print, počítač, and online zdroj
Type:
model:article and TEXT
Subject:
motýli, babočkovití, křídla (zoologie), adaptace (biologie), butterflies, Nymphalidae, wings (zoology), adaptation (biology), Lepidoptera, Coenonympha oedippus, False Ringlet, classical morphometrics, geometric morphometrics, environmental heterogeneity, 2, and 59
Language:
English
Description:
At the southern limit of its range the endangered butterfly Coenonympha oedippus inhabits grasslands (wet, dry) that differ significantly in the abundance of its larval hostplants (wet > dry) and mean annual air temperature (wet < dry). We determined the difference in the wing morphology of individuals in the two contrasting habitats to test whether and how traits associated with wing size, shape and eye like spots vary in the sexes and two ecotypes. We show that sexual dimorphism follows the same (wing size and shape, number of eyespots on forewing) or different (relative area of eyespots on hindwings) patterns in the two contrasting habitats. Irrespective of ecotype, females had larger, longer and narrower wings, and more forewing eyespots than males. Sexual dimorphism in the relative area of eyespots on hindwing was female-biased in the wet, but male-biased in the dry ecotype. Ecotype dimorphism in wing size and the relative area of eyespots on the hindwing is best explained by mean annual air temperature and abundance of host-plants. While ecotype dimorphism in wing size did not differ between sexes, neither in direction (wet > dry) or in degree, in the two sexes the relative area of eyespots on hindwing had opposite patterns (males: dry > wet; females: wet > dry) and was more pronounced in males than in females. The differences in wing shape between ecotypes were detected only in the hindwings of males, with more rounded apex in the dry than in the wet ecotype. We discuss the life-history traits, behavioural strategies and selection mechanisms, which largely account for the sex- and ecotype-specific variation in wing morphology., Jure Jugovic, Sara Zupan, Elena Bužan, Tatjana Čelik., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ and policy:public

43. Variation of thorax flight temperature among twenty Australian butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae, Nymphalidae, Pieridae, Hesperiidae, Lycaenidae)

Creator:
Nève, Gabriel and Hall, Casey
Format:
print, počítač, and online zdroj
Type:
article, články, journal articles, model:article, and TEXT
Subject:
Zoologie, otakárkovití, babočkovití, běláskovití, motýli, Papilionidae, Nymphalidae, Pieridae, butterflies, Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae, Lycaenidae, thorax flight temperature, wing loading, infra red thermometer, warming-up rate, physical constraint, allometry, 2, and 59
Language:
English
Description:
Thermal requirements for flight in butterflies is determined by a combination of external factors, behaviour and physical constraints. Thorax temperature of 152 butterflies was monitored with an infra-red thermometer in controlled laboratory conditions. The temperature at take-off varied from 13.4°C, for a female Heteronympha merope to 46.3°C, for a female Junonia villida. Heteronympha merope, an understorey species, had the lowest recorded take-off temperatures, with females flying at a much lower thorax temperatures than males. Among the tested butterfly species, warming-up rate was positively correlated with take-off temperature and negatively with body mass. Wing loading is a major variable in determining the thorax flight temperature. Butterflies with the highest wing-loadings experienced the highest thorax temperatures at take-off. A notable exception to this rule is Trapezites symmomus, the only Hesperiidae of our data set, which had thorax flight temperatures of 31.5°C and 34.5°C, well within the range of the observed butterflies, despite a wing load ca. five times higher. The high thorax temperature recorded in J. villida is probably linked to its high flight speed. The results highlight the importance of physical constraints such as body size on the thermal requirements for flight across a range of butterfly species., Gabriel Nève, Casey Hall., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public

44. Weather-dependent fluctuations in the abundance of the oak processionary moth, Thaumetopoea processionea (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae)

Creator:
Csóka, György, Hirka, Anikó, Szöcs, Levente, Móricz, Norbert, Rasztovits, Ervin, and Pödör, Zoltán
Format:
print, počítač, and online zdroj
Type:
model:article and TEXT
Subject:
motýli, dolování dat, butterflies, data mining, Lepidoptera, Notodontidae, Thaumetopoea processionea, light trap, population fluctuation, Moran-effect, drought, oak defoliator, CReMIT-analysis, 2, and 59
Language:
English
Description:
Population fluctuations of the well-known oak defoliator, the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea L.), were studied using light trap data and basic meteorological parameters (monthly average temperatures, and precipitation) at three locations in Western Hungary over a period of 15 years (1988-2012). The fluctuations in the numbers caught by the three traps were strongly synchronized. One possible explanation for this synchrony may be similar weather at the three trapping locations. Cyclic Reverse Moving Interval Techniques (CReMIT) were used to define the period of time in a year that most strongly influences the catches. For this period, we defined a species specific aridity index for Thaumetopoea processionea (THAU-index). This index explains 54.8-68.9% of the variation in the yearly catches, which indicates that aridity, particularly in the May-July period was the major determinant of population fluctuations. Our results predict an increasing future risk of Oak Processionary Moth (OPM) outbreaks and further spread if the frequency of severe spring/summer droughts increases with global warming., György Csóka, Anikó Hirka, Levente Szöcs, Norbert Móricz, Ervin Rasztovits, Zoltán Pödör., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ and policy:public