erebia
Junior Member
Posts: 30
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Post by erebia on Dec 23, 2020 8:53:34 GMT -8
The American copper, Lycaena phlaeas, that occurs in the eastern U.S. is believed by many to have been accidentally introduced from Europe by early colonists a couple of hundred years ago. I could be wrong but I understand that there are no native host plants of this butterfly found in the eastern U.S. There are however many high elevation populations of native L. phlaeas in the western U. S. that occupy completely different ecological zones. It would be interesting to know if anyone has compared the eastern and western populations through DNA analysis.
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Post by Paul K on Dec 23, 2020 10:09:40 GMT -8
I doubt that Lycaena phlaeas was introduced to Eastern America by Europeans. It is a different subspecies and I don’t think few hundred years is long enough to diverge.
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Post by miguel on Dec 23, 2020 12:47:46 GMT -8
In Spain we have Cacyreus marshalli from South Africa and the moth Paysandisia archon.
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Post by wollastoni on Dec 23, 2020 13:11:53 GMT -8
I never understood why Papilio demoleus hasn’t colonized Southern Europe yet. Plenty of citrus in Spain, South France and Italy. And plenty of citrus importation from Asia. I guess it will come soon.
Papilio demodocus was imported to Reunion island by an entomologist for its beauty. It has ruined the citrus industry there. Then the scientists has imported a parasitic wasp... Papilio demodocus is still there but the parasitic wasp has nearly wiped out Papilio phorbanta, endemic from Reunion island. So sometimes, the answer to an invasive species can be a big error too. Especially on small islands.
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Post by miguel on Dec 23, 2020 13:38:27 GMT -8
Maybe they cann´t survive the big quantities of pesticides used around Citrus.
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leptraps
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Posts: 2,397
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Post by leptraps on Dec 23, 2020 14:37:24 GMT -8
The citrus growers were pouring the pesticides onto the Citrus trees and into the Auquafer. IFAS cried foul, but no one was listening. The Orange Juice makers had the power. The Sun Shine State (Florida) had the final say.
The OJ Industry won and the environment lost.
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Post by kevinkk on Dec 23, 2020 18:32:08 GMT -8
Purposely introducing a population isn't as easy as it sounds, it takes either an invasive species, or a lot of breeding material, I've seen a similar topic come up at Actias.de about Hyalophora cecropia. Like introducing Graellsia into Switzerland, I read there were difficulties with maintaining the population. Usually, these things end in disasters, like mongoose in Hawaii, cane toads in Australia, starlings in NA, and with agriculture, and what we now know about introducing non-natives, it's unlikely to ever happen. I think unless you've got something nearly unkillable, or without predators, it's going to take thousands of adults to even begin to naturalize a non-native.
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Post by wollastoni on Dec 23, 2020 19:28:26 GMT -8
Maybe they cann´t survive the big quantities of pesticides used around Citrus. Of course but there are millions of non-treated citrus in gardens in S. Europe
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Post by nicolas on Dec 24, 2020 18:54:04 GMT -8
If I remember, Actias isabelle was originally Pyrenean endemit and it was introduced near Marseille, at least, I heard this in Insectfair. Never heard abut isabelle in Swiss. And, in south France, where I was collecting on light, I once attracted big Saturniidae, some Actias (probably selene - I don´t know all species and I gave this specimen to friend long time ago). I was very confused - until I found that few hundreds meters from my spot is butterfly house
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Post by miguel on Dec 26, 2020 13:27:07 GMT -8
Nicolas: Actias isabelae is endemic of Spain and the south of France,I think it's not an introduced moth there.
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Post by kevinkk on Dec 26, 2020 19:41:45 GMT -8
Nicolas: Actias isabelae is endemic of Spain and the south of France,I think it's not an introduced moth there. After trying a few times to breed Graellsia, and reading as much as I could find- it's endemic to Spain, and protected there, I believe there are populations in France, but I don't know it's status. In Switzerland, it is not protected and there is a subspecies called cellobosi ( I think that's the spelling) Which is why, anytime you see isabellae offered, it's invariably from Switzerland-officially. I read one article about trying to introduce isabellae into different areas, one was in Switzerland, hundreds were released in hopes of maintaining a breeding population, the results didn't sound all that successful. That's why I think it takes a lot of breeding adults of any species, unless it spreads like dispar it's just not going to be an easy thing to get a breeding population into an area beyond it's natural range. Maybe in some micro-climates, a species might flourish, but a lot of factors went into evolution and geography to give us the species spread we have now. You could wonder why Automeris io is only found in the eastern USA, or any other number of species.
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