I knew there was a big list of potential species to be seen, and on final count I think I saw between thirty and forty... some of which I will share here if anyone is interested... watch this space
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Not without true hazards btw...
I agree - it's absolutely fascinating and Kip's posts from the New World really illustrate it well. A lot of the shared Holarctic groups must have made the passage (one way or the other) by the northern route during one of the last two interglacials. When the ice retreats the butterflies follow it north - and the distances between East and West at high latitudes are of course not nearly so big as they look on standard map projections of the world. Then the ice heads south again, pushing the butterflies down, where they remain genetically isolated until the next interglacial warm period. That can't be the case for the tropical groups, though, like Eurema, which occur throughout all the tropical regions. Something else must be going on there.petesmith wrote:Wow Kip - that Weidermeyer's Admiral is just out of this world! Fabulous shot and what a gorgeous creature!
I am always intrigued by the similarities between many US species and their European relatives, and what it means in terms of evolutionary timescales and continental drift - would love to visit the US one day on a butterfly expedition...
Looking forward to your next posts.