Subject: Parnassius spp.

From: Wendy Fjellstad <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 May 1995 11:37:07 +0100

Sharon J. Collman writes:
>Re: where butterflies go at night (a slight digression).  I had the good
>fortune to be at Reecer Creek, near Ellensburg, Wa. at dusk.  I was
>trying to get the last photos of butterflies and observations.  The
>Phoebus Parnassian (Parnassius phoebus) was just nestling down in the
>flower heads of the Eriogonun compositum.  This Eriogonum (buckwheat) has
>a large fluffy flowerhead and the butterfly folded up it's wings and
>backed down into the flower.
>
I was interested to read your comments on the overnighting behaviour of the
small apollo (Parnassius phoebus) and wondered how much you have studied
these insects. I am a ph.d. student working on the apollo (Parnassius
apollo) and clouded apollo (P. mnemosyne) and I'm interested in learning as
much as possible about these species. In particular I have been studying
their flight behaviour with regard to dispersal. In Norway these
butterflies live in old hay meadows separated by forest. As people are
abandoning traditional farming methods these meadows become uneconomical
and are left unmanaged, which eventually leads to them being overgrown with
scrub and finally trees. Fragmentation of habitat has been reported to have
serious consequences for many species of both animals and plants. Those
species which are able to disperse long distances survive better than those
with poor dispersal powers. (There has been some work by Jeremy Thomas in
England on the proposed metapopulation structure of silver-studded blue
(Plebejus argus) populations - pretty poor dispersers whose movements may
be restricted by a 25m wide strip of scrub!). Since P. apollo and P.
mnemosyne are endangered in Norway, I want to find out how good they are at
dispersing and thus how seriously they will be affected by the changes in
landscape. If anyone has any information about Parnassius species, or
answers to these kind of landscape ecology questions for any other
butterfly species, I would be very grateful to hear of it.

Wendy.

e-mail: [email-masked]

---

From: Patrick Roper <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 May 1995 21:02:23 +0100

>e-mail: [email-masked]

Dear Wendy,

I have sent a copy of your email to Dr. Linda Barnett who has studied the
Apollo in Norway.  She is a professional lepidopterist now working for our
British Butterfly Conservation organisation and her address is P.O. Box 444,
Wareham, Bournemouth, Dorset, U.K. if you want to write to he - I am afraid
she is not on email yet.

Hope this is helpful,

Yours, Patrick Roper.
Editor: Butterfly Conservation News
============================================================
South View - Sedlescombe - Battle - East Sussex TN33 0PE - UK
Telephone:  +44 (01424) 870208; Fax: +44 (01424) 870208
Email: [email-masked]
============================================================