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

Title:

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

Creator:

Mikkola, Kauri

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:1d8bd7e2-4608-4bf3-92fe-4b18f276ded7
uuid:1d8bd7e2-4608-4bf3-92fe-4b18f276ded7

Subject:

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta, Monarch, Danaus plexippus, butterflies, Lepidoptera, migrations, and air

Type:

article, model:article, and TEXT

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.).

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
policy:public

Source:

European Journal of Entomology | 2003 Volume:100 | Number:4

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false