Earliest flight times for Philotes sonorensis? Please help.

[nomihoudai]

Hello, I will once again be in the US for a business trip next February. I will have to go to San Francisco from the 15th to the 19th of February.

I would really like to see Philotes sonorensis on the wing and I wanted to ask the members of insectnet if they do fly already in the last week of February or not? I could do some collecting between the 20th and the 25th, is this way too early for them or not? I checked butterflies of America and the few specimen that they reported were unfortunately all from the first week of March. Supposed that they do fly, do you think that it will be possible to collect some of its hostplant and let the female lay eggs on it and bring them back to Europe? It would be really great to establish a breeding stock of this species over here.

Any help is appreciated and thank you for the information.
Regards Claude.

[admin]

Claude,

I can't say for San Francisco, but down here in LA the main flight time is the month of March. Of course there are always a few early birds and a few late flyers. Here is a video I made on Sonorensis:
www.insectnet.com/videos/field/searchsonar/searchsonar.htm

Any chance you can travel down to LA during your visit? If so, I can take you to the collecting locations. And yes, you can get them to oviposit on a potted host plant. Here are instructions:
www.insectnet.com/photos/tech2/t_sonor_jar1.htm

- Clark

[nomihoudai]

Hello Clark, yes I know your video of P. sonorensis, it was the first time I ever saw that species. It took me 2 years after watching it to find a trading partner and I have 3 specimen in my collection.

I have the possibility to travel down to LA! I have this fixed time schedule from the 19th to the 24th or something like that, but other than that I am free to go wherever I want. I will write you a PM, having a weekend off and collecting with you Clark would be really awesome!

Rgds Claude, and many thanks for the help.

[admin]

Ok! Sounds good.