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Post by wolf on May 19, 2011 8:55:49 GMT -8
Today, after a walk(that was recommended by a member in this forum, which insisted on beeing anonymous), i discovered a whole lot of aglias urticae larva on Urtica, All from newly hatched larva up to L4-L5. It was very fun, and i brought early instar larva home with me to try and do my first EVER breeding.
They are now feeding on the urtica i provided them, it is super awesome.
Thank you.
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Post by simosg on May 19, 2011 9:27:43 GMT -8
Good luck with your first breeding. Give them enough space when the want to pupate. If you have al lot of them in a to small box, the will disturbe each other and some will fall down.
Hannes
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Post by wollastoni on May 19, 2011 9:31:12 GMT -8
Aglais urticae is strongly declining in France. They were everywhere when I was kid (20 years ago). I saw about 2 or 3 of them only last year despite I prospected in Britanny, Paris area and in the Alpes...
Pesticides...
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Post by saturniidave on May 19, 2011 15:26:22 GMT -8
Same here in England, I am lucky to see two or three a year.
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Post by lepidofrance on May 19, 2011 15:39:34 GMT -8
I should say that in France, Aglais urticae is more and more localized and can remain abundant in some places. Its presence is also variable depending on the year. For example, where I regularly stay in the country (Forest of Dreux, Upper Normandy), virtually none or very few samples for several years and, conversely, in 2010, the species became abundant (in June). No meeting so far in 2011!
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Post by lepidofrance on May 19, 2011 15:42:29 GMT -8
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Post by lepidofrance on May 19, 2011 15:51:43 GMT -8
By the way, are these caterpillars Aglais urticae larvae ? (from Yunnan, 2500 m asl) Thanks for the caterpillars ID !
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Post by lepidofrance on May 19, 2011 15:53:34 GMT -8
and what about these other caterpillars ? (from Yunnan) Again Aglais urticae ? same instar ?
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Post by wollastoni on May 20, 2011 6:05:45 GMT -8
Cherish them ! In 20 years, it will be like here....
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Post by bobw on May 20, 2011 6:35:05 GMT -8
When I was a kid we had a big Buddleia bush in our garden and at any one time I would expect to see 20 - 30 A. urticae on it along with plenty of V. atalanta, V. cardui, I. io, P. c-album and whites. Now, I haven't seen a single A. urticae in south-east England for at least 15 years although I hear that they are still around in the north of the country, and I've seen them when I go to Norfolk for P. machaon.
There are many other species that used to be very common when I was a kid which are now rare or even gone completely, such as: P. malvae, C. rubi, L. megera and C. pamphilus.
Bob
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Post by nomihoudai on May 20, 2011 6:46:05 GMT -8
Population of humans in England since first extinction of Lycaena dispar:
1861 - 18,776,300 1871 - 21,298,000 1881 - 24,402,700 1891 - 27,231,200 1901 - 30,515,000 1911 - 33,651,600 1921 - 35,230,200 1931 - 37,359,000 1951 - 41,042,200 1961 - 43,983,300 1971 - 45,870,100 1981 - 46,623,500 1991 - 48,067,300 2001 - 49,138,831 2002 - 49,652,000 2003 - 49,866,000 2004 - 50,111,000 2005 - 50,466,000 2006 - 50,762,900 2007 - 51,092,000 2008 - 51,456,400
Anybody still wonders where the butterflies go ? I don't really.
p.S. In my country both Aglais urticae and Aglais io (duh, my fingers still cramp when writing that combination) are in a highly varying population state. 3 years ago A. io was very abundant in good numbers, but pretty no A. urticae. Last year and this year it was the reverse state.
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Post by lepidofrance on May 20, 2011 7:13:59 GMT -8
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Post by lepidofrance on May 20, 2011 7:23:23 GMT -8
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Post by bobw on May 20, 2011 7:28:08 GMT -8
So if you look at those figures I guess the optimum population for England was around 1901 and that's what we should be aiming to get back towards. But of course that would destroy the country's economy as continual growth is an absolute necessity, even in such a horribly overcrowded country as this.
If we think that's uncontrolled population explosion, it's nothing compared to India, which is predicted to overtake the population of China soon, in a country a fraction of the size! It's beyond my comprehension why people would want to bring children into the world we currently live in.
Bob
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2011 1:36:46 GMT -8
A Urticae was by far the commonest butterfly in Yorkshire during the 1970's and 80's and fairly common here up muntil 2007 when for 2 years it virtually disappeared, 2010 and 11 have been better years I would say I saw around 200 last summer and quite a few post hibernation this year but nowhere near as common as in former times, reading your posts though it seems it has fared better up here than in most places.
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