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Post by yorky on Oct 11, 2020 2:30:41 GMT -8
Almost all the Vanessa cardui that I see in my back garden are all pretty uniform although they do vary greatly in size. I know that fantastic abberations can be made through temperature experiments but these were caught in my back garden on buddleia, the first was on the floor next to a bush and I noticed it straight away as it had an almost steely grey ground colour, the picture doesn't do it justice, the second I only noticed after my son had netted it, it has an extra white spot on each forewing , a phenomenon I've never seen before in this species. 2019 was an invasion year for cardui the like of which we only see about every 30 years or so in England, hundreds at a time in my back garden, a beautiful sight. Attachments:
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 11, 2020 2:42:28 GMT -8
Vanessa cardui invasions are very impressive.
It happens every 10 years or so. And when it is the case, they are really everywhere ! Million of millions of specimens.
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Post by yorky on Oct 11, 2020 4:05:25 GMT -8
Here in England I can remember only 3 really BIG invasions in my lifetime 1980,1996 and 2019 where cardui reached epidemic proportions, it has been plentiful in other years but not on such a large scale as these years.
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 11, 2020 4:47:22 GMT -8
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Post by Paul K on Oct 11, 2020 5:02:48 GMT -8
I moved to Canada in 1990 and I only remember one invasion in 2017, there were millions of V.cardui everywhere, since then I didn’t see any.
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Post by yorky on Oct 11, 2020 5:26:13 GMT -8
Here in North England I see cardui most years but never in any great numbers, some years I see dozens but last year there were hundreds everywhere you went.
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Post by Paul K on Oct 11, 2020 5:47:43 GMT -8
I remember back in Poland I could find them every year, not so many but they were present, here in Canada cardui is rather rare except when there are millions.
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Post by yorky on Oct 11, 2020 5:59:56 GMT -8
In Northern Europe we are reliant on a huge build up of numbers from North Africa and southern Europe, there is an old post somewhere as we tracked its progress north.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Oct 11, 2020 6:01:39 GMT -8
I saw V. cardui in eastern Laos a number of years ago, and I know it is present in N Thailand too, but it isn't a common garden butterfly here.
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Post by yorky on Oct 11, 2020 6:20:35 GMT -8
Last year every branch of my buddleia had at least 2 cardui on,and I have 8 bushes so you can imagine the number.
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Post by Paul K on Oct 11, 2020 16:22:30 GMT -8
I saw two specimens of V.cardui only once in Northern Thailand near Chiang Mai on top of Doi Kiew Lom ( view point ).  |
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Post by Paul K on Oct 11, 2020 16:34:21 GMT -8
This is my ab of V.cardui, the brown markings are much lighter than usual specimens. Collected in Toronto on 30 Sep 2017 during an invasion.  |
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Post by bichos on Oct 12, 2020 5:21:29 GMT -8
I believe the Australian V. cardui is the nicest with specimens often having blue circular markings in the center of the hindwing spots. I'll see if i can dig up a specimen to show.
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Post by Paul K on Oct 12, 2020 6:22:34 GMT -8
I believe the Australian V. cardui is the nicest with specimens often having blue circular markings in the center of the hindwing spots. I'll see if i can dig up a specimen to show. Isn’t that Vanessa kershawi you are talking about? |
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Post by bichos on Oct 12, 2020 6:44:49 GMT -8
I believe the Australian V. cardui is the nicest with specimens often having blue circular markings in the center of the hindwing spots. I'll see if i can dig up a specimen to show. Isn’t that Vanessa kershawi you are taking about? Oops! Perhaps I'll just stick to beetles. Ok, i used to regard this as a subspecies of cardui and infact, i think some still do... |
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