The text below is grayed out because it is not intended to be read. It is a necessarily imperfect OCR of the original and is only used by a search engine.
|
|
||||
|
1961
|
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
|
73
|
||
|
|
||||
|
ANOTHER LARVAL FOODPLANT FROM TEXAS FOR ANTIGONUS PULVERULENTA (HESPERIID.E)
by Roy O. Kendall
Abutilon wrightii Gray is the second larval foodplant for Antigonus pulverulenta Felder found in Bexar County, Texas. Information on the other known larval foodplant, Wissadula holosericea (Scheele) Garcke, of this species may be found elsewhere (Journ. lepid. soc. 13: 221-228; 1960).
The first evidence that A. wrightii was a suitable larval foodplant for this skipper came to my attention 31 May 1957 when I found two pupae on it. A third pupa was found on this same species of plant 31 August 1958. It was not until 1 April 1959 that eggs were found. By early June 1959 A. ivrightii had been transplanted to my backyard and was growing quite well. A. pulverulenta was observed to deposit eggs on it at various times during the remainder of 1959. Frequent inspections revealed numerous larvae feeding on the leaves. While most of the larvae mature and adults emerge during the season in which the eggs are deposited, a few late ones will overwinter in the pupa stage and emerge early in February.
A. wrightii is relatively scarce and its trailing habit makes it difficult to find. One should watch for it along well drained slopes and ridges in hilly sections of its range. W. holosericea, the other known foodplant usually grows in small patches and because of its height may be located easily by the collector as he drives along ranch and farm-to-market roads in the area. The distribution of both these plants is southwestern Texas; an area generally encompassing Comal, Bexar, Nueces, Webb, Maverick, Brewster, Reeves, and Jeff Davis Counties. It is throughout this same general area that A. pulverulenta has been found.
Acknowledgements
I should like to express my thanks to Mrs. Ellen Schultz Quillin, Director, Witte Memorial Museum, and Sister Mary Clare, CD.P., Our Lady of the Lake College, both of San Antonio, Texas, for their botanical assistance in determining these plants.
References Hanson, Herbert C, 1920. The malvaceous plants of Texas. Texas agric. exper.
sta., A & M. College of Texas circular No. 22. Metz, Sister Mary Clare, 1934. A flora of Bexar County, Texas. Catholic University
of America. Washington, D. C. Schulz, Ellen D., 1928. Texas wild flowers. Laidlaw Brothers, Chicago.
135 Vaughan Place, San Antonio 1, Texas, U. S. A.
|
||||
|
|
||||