Today a Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) found its way to Dummerston. Painted Ladies are long distance migrants originating in the Southwest - often in the Sonora Desert. No Painted Ladies overwinter here: no adults, no eggs, no larvae and no pupae. Cold would kill any that tried. This butterfly had to come a long way to get here.
Until recently scientists thought that the Painted Lady migration was one way, and that these wondrous genetic lines would end with the first hard frost of next fall. Now, however, a reverse migration is believed to occur with at least some of the Painted Ladies born in the North and the East making the trip back to the Southwest.
Hopefully not for a while!
John
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