Subject: Re: Dispersion flights

From: "Sharon J. Collman" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 03:55:58 GMT

On Thu, 19 Oct 1995, Paul Breslin wrote:

> I am a ship's captain in the U.S. Merchant Marine.  Frequently
> windborne lepidoptera reach the ship when the ship is far
> from land.  It is common to find lepidoptera sheltering themselves
> behind deck structures anytime one is surrounded by land masses,
> The Red Sea, Persian Gulf, the Med, etc.  Moths are commonly
> seen orbiting lights at night aboard oil rigs far out in the Gulf 
> of Mexico.
> Paul Breslin
> 

Now that would be a fascinating study, especially if the catches could be 
correlated with ports, and dates.  We just need more entomologically 
oriented people working on ships to widen the sample.  It could also be 
both an interesting pursuit, and have economic payoff.

In the Tacoma area, south of Seattle Wa., Asian Gypsy Moths were found 
radiating out from the Port area.  When ships were inspected, AGM eggs 
were found on the ships.  They were required to leave port, but Tacoma is 
at the end of Puget Sound.  It is likely they left, scraped off the egg 
masses (I believe that was the stage carried) then returned to port.  
(Hopefully the egg masses were kept and destroyed, and not just dumped 
into the waters.  With hundreds of food plants as possible diet, there's 
always the potential to float to a safe shore with host plants at the 
water's edge).  Although maybe the oil scum in Puget Sound should reduce 
their chances.  (Have you ever looked closely at the water near you??  
Scary.)  I would guess this is costly for the ships, so prior awareness could
reduce such delays.  

Thanks for sharing the info.  I remember reading of Darwin's Beagle 
accounts of encounters with offshore insects.  I hadn't thought that they 
might be so far from land til then.  What a great vocation this is.

----
Chirps!

Sharon J. Collman                     OR      Sharon J. Collman
c/o Center For Urban Horticulture             
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University of Washington                      Seattle, WA. 98125-3322
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Phone:  206-543-8616                          206-364-6966 
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