Re: monarch butterflies
- To: Mediterannean Plants List
- Subject: Re: monarch butterflies
- From: T* &* M* R*
- Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2000 16:07:15 +1300
- References: <2BCD8A1EC385D311AE9B0006295009190FA222@agspsrv19.agric.wa.gov.au> <38910F88.AA9D6679@dnai.com>
Richard Starkeson wrote:
>
> "Randall, Rod" wrote:
>
> > We have a lot school teachers ringing us up wanting to grow swan plant to
> > provide food for monarch butterflies, they know the plant is a weed but seem
> > to think it will be all right for thier purposes, and they still want to know
> > where to get the plants from. .
>
> I take it monarchs have gone native in Australia? Seems like a long way to fly
> from the americas. Does anyone know if they came with or after the ENglish, or
> were they already there? What did they eat before the arrival of the
> Asclepias? Or are there native Asclepias that they feed on? Hoing you now as
> much about butterflies as weeds . . .
Hi
They have certainly naturalized in NZ as well. Or perhaps I should
really say they have become domesticated, judging by the numerous
gardeners who spend a lot of summer pandering to their voracious eating
habits and spending vast sums on extra plants as those they started with
get defoliated. I would say they come in much the same catergory as cats
- highly decorative but not prepared to show any gratitude, taking all
the solicitude as their God-given right.
They are in fact totally dependent on us humans as there are no native
members of the Asclepiadaceae in the local flora, but as they are one of
only a tiny handful of showy butterfilies in the country, we count the
effort worth while.
I checked with the entomologist at our National Museum and he says the
spread from the Americas started about the mid-1800s and coincided with
the burgeoning human travel which first transported the mikweeds to
several parts of the Pacific, which up till then had no suitable food
plants. This then enabled the butterfiles, with their prodigeous powers
of flight to island-hop right across the Pacific to Australasia.
As I understand their range is becoming restricted at home, it is good
that there are flourishing colonies on our side of the world as a form
of insurance.
Moira
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand. (on the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
Lat. 41:16S Long. 174:58E. Climate: Mediterranean/Temperate
