[HELICONIUS] Eueides isabella (probably) in Spokane, Washington

[James Mallet]

On 04/06/2015 15:47, Marisa Burgess wrote:
 > Dear Mr. Mallet,
 >
 >     My name is Marisha Burgess and I recently saw a butterfly I felt 
was very out of place. During a tour of Riverside Park in Spokane, WA I 
would swear I saw a Heliconius spc., likely isabella. I worked at a 
butterfly house as Chief Entomologist, and although beetles are my 
speciality, I am very  experienced  with  Heliconius and I am  certain I 
saw  a longwing butterfly  that looked  very similar  to a  H. isabella 
longwing.
 >    There are no butterfly houses near by, and I saw no food source, 
but I would put money  on  my  ID.  Any idea of what species would look 
similar and be in Spokane, WA. ??
 >    Would love to hear thoughts.
 > I appreciate your time.
 >
 > Sincerely,
 > Marisha Burgess
 > Entomgirl13 at yahoo.com
 >
 > Sent from my Huawei Mobile


Subject: Re: Heliconius in Washington?
From: James Mallet <jmallet at oeb.harvard.edu>
Date: 04/06/2015 16:22
To: Marisa Burgess <entomgirl13 at yahoo.com>

I'd say unlikely to be a migrant, but could be an escape. As you know, I 
am sure, you can order heliconiine pupae online, so it's not just 
butterfly houses, but some private individuals as well. Next time, you 
must get the specimen! Would be a range extension! If it wasn't a 
Mexican-style isabella, and was say, Ecuadorean, it would clinch it 
being an escape!

The USDA mandates some insect houses to make sure that the tropical 
butterflies do not breed, which means that they're enforcing outsourcing 
of the rearing, which seems rather unsustainable use of natural 
resource! Most unfortunate, as very few of them would survive the 
summer, let alone the winter. They do I think occur year round a few 
hundred km S of the Mexican border in N. Mexico.  The most northerly 
strays we've recorded are from Arizona, New Mexico and Kansas.  See this 
page:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/heliconiina_maps/Eueides/isabella%20subspecies%201.jpg
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/heliconiina_maps/Heliconius_chklst.html

Best wishes, Jim

-- 
James Mallet
Organismic & Evolutionary Biology
Harvard University
16 Divinity Avenue - BioLabs
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA tel: +(1)617-496-5350
www.oeb.harvard.edu/mallet/