http://10.70.15.71/taxonomy/term/13/0 en http://10.70.15.71/butterfly/Pholisora/catullus <p>Perhaps we should change the common name to "The Formerly-Common Sooty Wing," since this little glossy-black butterfly with a white "face" is now teetering on the edge of regional extinction. On our <a class="glossary-term" href="/glossary/3#term175"><acronym title="A line along which environmental data is collected. In this study, the 10 locations that have been regularly sampled for butterfly diversity is roughly along a transect line paralleling U.S. Interstate 80 from the eastern San Francisco delta through the Sacramento Valley, and up and over the Sierra Nevada mountains.">transect</acronym></a>, it was formerly found at all the low-elevation sites but as of 2005 was still present only in West Sacramento. As recently as a decade before this was a "junk <a class="glossary-term" href="/glossary/3#term169"><acronym title="The primary unit of classification below genus under the Linnaean system. For our purposes, groups of interbreeding or potentially interbreeding populations of individuals that share an evolutionary history and ancestry. However, there is significant debate on what exactly constitutes a species and many definitions and concepts have been proposed. The most common of these is the biological species concept, which requires that sets of populations must be able to successfully and regularly interbreed and produce viable, fertile offspring.">species</acronym></a>," breeding in vegetable gardens and vacant lots on <a class="glossary-term" href="/glossary/3#term182"><acronym title="A general term for organisms that are typically associated with habitats that are disturbed by human activities or are dominated by non-native, invasive plants.">weedy</acronym></a> Pigweeds (<a class="glossary-term" href="/glossary/3#term122"><acronym title="The nested rank between family and species in the Linnaean system.">genus</acronym></a> <i>Amaranthus</i>) and occasionally on the closely-related Cockscomb in flower gardens. There are plenty of hosts around - perhaps more than ever - but <i>P. catullus</i> has disappeared. The fat, apple-green <a class="glossary-term" href="/glossary/3#term87"><acronym title="The second stage of Lepidoptera metamorphosis. The primary activity in this stage is eating, eating, and eating. In fact, it is only the larval stage of a butterfly or moth that grows and “runt” adults can result from a poor diet as a caterpillar. ">larva</acronym></a> with a black head and cervical shield was easily located in its rolled-leaf nest.</p> <p>Multiple broods, March-October. Males "fly a beat" along roadsides with a very characteristic zigzag flight near the ground. Both sexes visit low flowers such as <i>Lippia</i> and <i>Heliotrope</i> and, in lawns, clovers and small yellow-flowered Oxalis.</p> <p>The collapse of this species and of the Large Marble (<i>Euchloe ausonides</i>) leaves butterfly biologists absolutely baffled. What is going on?</p> Pholisora Sun, 28 May 2006 18:08:10 +0000 admin 120 at http://10.70.15.71