Monarch Challenge Questions

From: by way of Elizabeth Howard Journey North <winfree@centrosome.dna.caltech.edu>
Date: Mon Mar 21 2005 - 08:58:01 EST
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This is easy: they are Painted Ladies, Vanessa cardui -- not Monarchs.

There has been a steady stream of them through my backyard in the
foothills of Altadena, California, so I netted one (3pm March 20, 2005).

They were all flying west parallel to the San Gabriel mountains.
It matched perfectly the photo at
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/paintedlady.html

but none of the other species shown at
http://www.public.iastate.edu/%7Emariposa/

so I'm pretty confident.

I especially noted the gray/white/brown with
just a dash of red/orange when the wings are folded, and the white dots at
the end of the antenna. Alas, my camera is at the lab.

I'll go out on a limb and assume the other recent sightings are of the
same species.

Thanks for a great web site -- I at first thought they were Monarchs, but
google brought me right to your site and set me straight.

---------------------------------------
Erik Winfree
Asst. Professor of CS and CNS
Caltech, MS 136-93
1200 E. California Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91125
email: winfree@caltech.edu
WWW: http://www.dna.caltech.edu/~winfree
office: Moore 204B
phone: 626 395 6246
FAX: 626 584 0630
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Received on Mon Mar 21 08:58:15 2005

Challenge Question #7