The buckeye butterflies (genus Junonia) that occur in Florida, USA have been an ongoing taxonomic challenge for over 100 years. Schwartz (1987. Milwaukee Pub. Mus. Contrib. Biol. Geol. 73: 21) described the situation succinctly: “No other lepidopteran on the Florida Keys nor in south Florida, presents the taxonomic problems as Junonia.” The current consensus recognizes 3 different forms of Junonia in Florida based on morphological characters, but there is a general lack of consensus regarding the appropriate scientific names for each form. Similarities between the species that occur in Florida, intraspecific variation, and possible hybridization between species have often made it challenging to identify specimens, define the population structure of Junonia butterflies, or to understand the relationships of these butterfly populations to those elsewhere in the New World. We use a combination of morphological characters, mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I barcodes, nuclear wingless DNA sequences, and randomly amplified DNA fingerprints from Junonia from Florida, the Caribbean, and North and South America to resolve issues of taxonomy and population structure in this genus. We conclude that the common buckeye (J. coenia), the mangrove buckeye (J. neildi), and the tropical buckeye (J. zonalis) occur in Florida and that hybridization between these species takes place in this region.

Urine representing the three feeding classifications of mammals, namely carnivore, herbivore and omnivore, was used as a sodium-containing bait in butterfly traps and at feeding stations, to determine any preferences by nectivorous temperate butterflies. Twenty individuals representing three families were trapped, with no significant difference between the different urines. Carnivore urine was significantly more attractive to puddling butterflies than herbivore or omnivore urine. This study was unable to determine if puddling butterflies were capable of seeking out sand with a specific sodium content or if amino acids and/or volatiles influenced their choice.

Cunizza hirlanda tirimbina Chacón, DeVries & Penz, new subspecies is described from Costa Rica. The male and female genitalia of this species are illustrated here for the first time. The DNA barcode sequence is provided for one of the paratypes, and it differs by 2.58% from C. hirlanda niguida from Peru.

The fall migration of Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) was studied in an unfunded citizen science project during 2012—16 by tagging 13778 reared and 875 wild Monarchs. More than a third of these Monarchs were reared by inmates of the Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) in Walla Walla, Washington. Sixty (0.41 %) tagged Monarchs were recovered from distances greater than 10 km (mean: 792.9 ± 48.0 km) with most found in California, SSW of release points. One WSP-reared Monarch was found 724 km to the SE in Utah. Monarchs tagged in Oregon flew SSE to California. No Idaho-tagged Monarchs were found in California but two were recovered at locations due south. No wild tagged Monarchs from Washington, Oregon or Idaho were recovered. Monarchs from Washington and Oregon were found during October-February at 24 coastal California overwintering sites spanning 515 km from Bolinas to Carpinteria. A single wild spring Monarch tagged in May in northern California was recovered 35 days later and 707 km ENE in Twin Falls, Idaho. This study provides compelling evidence that many Monarchs in southern and central parts of Washington and Oregon migrate south in the fall to overwintering sites along the California coast. It also provides some evidence for southerly and south-easterly vectoring of migrating Monarchs from eastern Washington and Idaho, indicating the possibility of migration to Arizona or Mexico overwintering sites. In addition to improving our understanding of Monarch migration in the PNW, this study also contributed to conservation by adding nearly 14000 butterflies to the population. The incredible involvement of incarcerated and non-incarcerated citizen scientists generated much community and media interest which in turn led to greater involvement by citizens. Increased awareness of Monarchs, their biology and conservation in the PNW has been an unexpected but important spin-off of this study.

Eclosions in populations of some species of holometabolous insects only occur during a restricted time each day, often within as little as an hour or two. We have described the daily pattern of eclosions in a desert population of the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) so that we might better understand the daily pattern of this species' mating behavior. Our anecdotal impression that these animals eclose only around sunrise was confirmed both in a greenhouse with a natural light cycle and in an incubator with a semi natural 16:8 light:dark cycle. Our experiments indicate that on the day of eclosion, levels of short wavelength light at sunrise reach a point that triggers eclosion and that an internal clock contributes to the pattern of when eclosions occur during the day. Finally, we show that the internal clock is set by the light cycle to which the pupa is exposed during the last few days of the 11 to 12 day pupal stage.

Although biological invasions are generally thought to negatively impact native fauna, native herbivores that can utilize invasive plants may benefit. The East Coast of the United States has been invaded by the vitaceous plant Ampelopsis brevipedunculata. The invaded range of A. brevipedunculata overlaps with that of the native Vitis labrusca, a closely-related species that is a host plant for the native moth Darapsa myron (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). We reared D. myron larvae on either V. labrusca or A. brevipedunculata to assess whether development and survival differed on the two plant species. Larval growth and survival to pupation was only 5% on A. brevipedunculata compared to 30% on V. labrusca, suggesting that the invasive species is an unsuitable hostplant for D. myron.

In some insects, males invest heavily in each mating thus reducing the typical sexual imbalance in potential reproductive rates which, in turn, influences the mode and intensity of sexual selection. In Lepidoptera, males invest in mate searching, courtship, ejaculate production and, in some species, in genital spines shed inside the female. Despite this substantial investment, evidence regarding its effect on male survival is contradictory. The effect of successful mating (i.e. copulations resulting in transfer of an ejaculate and deciduous genital spines) on male longevity was experimentally estimated in the moth Amorbia cuneana (Tortricidae), a pest of avocado. Our results do not support the prediction that mating costs result in a reduction in male longevity: virgin (n = 16) and mated (n = 26) males lived a similar number of days. It is hypothesized that reduced mating opportunities have selected for virgin males that are always ready to transfer large ejaculates and thus against the diversion of resources from reproductive tissues to somatic maintenance in unmated males.

Aberrations of the color pattern of the wings can be induced in most of the species of Vanessa, like in many other Papilionoidea, by cold-shock treatment of the early pupae. However, Vanessa virginiensis displays a strong resistance to the treatment, also known as canalization of the color pattern. Here, I describe how this canalization can be overwhelmed by treatment of the early pupae with increasing amounts of sodium tungstate, an inhibitor of protein-tyrosine phophatase. High doses of the inhibitor were able to produce V. virginiensis aberrant individuals including extreme phenotypes similar to the “ahwashtee” aberration. The phenotype of these individuals is described. At high doses, color pattern aberrations are expressed in combination with multiple morphogenetic malformations, identical to that induced by the cold-shock treatment. Thus, the underlying mechanisms of action for cold are similar, although broader, to those of the inhibitor and affect the optimal function of polymorphic house-keeping and regulatory enzymes during the critical period of early pupae. These results suggest that the natural selection of functional polymorphisms of regulatory enzymes determining morphogenesis is a likely mechanism for radiation to colder (or warmer) environments, with no major role for the associated pattern of color.

Previous laboratory and controlled experiments demonstrated that some species of butterflies may prefer sucrose to other sugars. However, sugar use has not been quantified for an assemblage of butterflies in the field. The abundance of nectar-producing plants, and the volume and concentration of the nectar in those plants, peaks in the initial years following a fire, facilitating investigation of nectar use by butterflies. In 2014 and 2015, we surveyed butterflies and vegetation within the boundary of the Rim Fire event (Stanislaus National Forest, Tuolumne County, California), a major wildfire that occurred in 2013. We quantified the masses of glucose, fructose, and sucrose for all plant species on which we observed butterflies feeding. We tested whether intensity of use of each 20 nectar sources (the number of butterflies observed taking nectar from each source across both years) was associated with the total sugar mass, mass of sucrose, or relative proportion of sucrose. We found no evidence that intensity of butterfly use was associated with sugar mass, mass of sucrose, or the relative proportion of sucrose. Instead, butterflies appeared to use indiscriminately any nectar sources that were available to them. The difference between apparent sugar preferences in the laboratory and in the field may be explained in part by resource availability, and may change as vegetation succession progresses.