Subject: help with foraging research

From: jennifer j jackiw <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1995 11:11:07 -0400

As you may have read in my previous message, I am having trouble
getting butterflies to feed from artificial cardboard flowers containing sugar
water as part of a butterfly foraging experiment.  I have read that butterflies
are sometimes attracted to markings on flowers that can only be seen in the UV

range.  Does anyone think that this could be a reason that butterflies are not
interested in my flowers?  Does anyone know of any particular scents or colors
I could use to attract the butterflies?  Again, the butterflies which are the
most abundant are Tiger Swallowtail, Cabbage White, and American Painted Lady.
PLEASE HELP ME- I am desperate!!!!!

Kristen Sgambat
[email-masked]

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From: Martina Wicklein <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1995 11:16:16 -0700

Hey Kristen
Maybe the bee-people could help you, there is a lot of work done on bee's
foraging on artificil flowers and a lot of flowers are messured in respect
to colour and flourescent markers. There are papers around from R. Menzel et
al you might check. I'm working with Sphingids (Macroglossum stellatarum
and Manduca sexta) and we are also trying to let them hover in front of
flowers. It works pretty well, but we have the animals in cages in the
lab and they get used to the artifical flowers after a while, we never tried
it outside. We use a honeywater, because it adds an olfactory cue and is
more attractive then sugarwater.
Cheers Martina