- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
One of the first butterflies we see in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden in midwinter is the Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta.
Yes, this butterfly overwinters as an adult. It's picture-perfect with black wings, red bands and white spots. And on a picture-perfect day in midwinter, you may see it.
Or as butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus, says on his Art's Butterfly World website: "One of the most frequently seen butterflies in midwinter at low elevation, and often very common in the urban Bay Area, the Red Admiral occurs all around the Northern Hemisphere. It is multiple-brooded, overwinters as an adult, and may undergo altitudinal migration in the Sierra (where it is generally uncommon)."
"The larval hosts are all members of the Nettle family, Urticaceae, including not only the familiar Stinging Nettles (Urtica holosericea and U. urens) but the tiny-leaved ground cover Baby's Tears (Helxine or Soleirolia) in moist, shaded gardens and the climbing urban weed Pellitory (Parietaria) in the Bay Area. The larva is solitary, in a rolled-leaf shelter."
Shapiro has been monitoring butterfly populations in Central California since 1972. And the Red Admiral is just one of them.
If you visit the UC Davis Arboretum a picture-perfect day, you must may get the opportunity to admire the Red Admiral...This one was on a Roldana aschenborniana (Golden Light Senecio).
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You're looking for the winter daphne, Daphne odora Aureomarginta. You see a daphne sign in the Storer Garden but what's that on the sign? A butterfly? A Red Admiral? On Jan. 28? Are your eyes deceiving you?
You step closer and the butterfly is as real as real gets. It's basking in the warmth of the sun. Basking warms its flight muscles.
Yes, a Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta, in the dead of winter. Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, points out that the Red Admiral overwinters as an adult. So while we're holed up in our homes, offices or warehouses, it's flying around, weather permitting.
On his website, Art's Butterfly World, Shapiro writes: "One of the most frequently seen butterflies in midwinter at low elevation, and often very common in the urban Bay Area, the Red Admiral occurs all around the Northern Hemisphere. It is multiple-brooded, overwinters as an adult, and may undergo altitudinal migration in the Sierra (where it is generally uncommon."
"The larval hosts are all members of the Nettle family, Urticaceae, including not only the familiar Stinging Nettles (Urtica holosericea and U. urens) but the tiny-leaved ground cover Baby's Tears (Helxine or Soleirolia) in moist, shaded gardens and the climbing urban weed Pellitory (Parietaria) in the Bay Area. The larva is solitary, in a rolled-leaf shelter."
With spring approaching on March 20, we're all anticipating more of Nature's wonders. Meanwhile, if you're seeking pollinator plants--or garden gems--check out the UC Davis Arboretum's plant sale on Saturday, March 11 at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive. The Arboretum's first spring plant sale of the year, it's open to members only (Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum and Davis Botanical Society) from 9 to 11 a.m., and to the public from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. You can also join the Friends of the Arboretum online or at the gate.
The inventory includes some 400 varieties and almost 13,000 plants. Here' s the list of "garden gems" you can download: LIFE AFTER LAWN: Garden Gems Plant List.
While you're there, be sure to walk a few yards over to the Storer Garden to see this wonderful little garden that bears the name of physician/philanthropist Ruth Risdon Storer (1888-1986), the first woman physician on the UC Davis campus and the first woman pediatrician practicing in Yolo County. There's always something new to see in the Storer Garden. If you're lucky, maybe a Red Admiral...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That may be how its name originated; someone corrupted "admirable" to "admiral."
And mistook "orange" for "red."
The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is not red: it's orange and black graced with orange bands and white spots. The undersides of the hindwings are not so colorful, with its brown-and-black camouflaged patterns.
Nevertheless, it's a gorgeous butterfly. It's found throughout North America from northern Canada to Central America, as well as throughout Europe, northern Africa and Eurasia. It's also located in Hawaii, New Zealand and some of the Caribbean Islands.
Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, who has studied the butterfly populations in Central California for more than four decades, says on his website that it's "one of the most frequently seen butterflies in midwinter at low elevation" and it's "often very common in the urban Bay Area," not to mention occurring "all around the Northern Hemisphere."
The colorful butterfly lays its eggs on nettles (family Urticaceae), including the stinging nettles, wood nettle and false nettle. Caterpillars feed on the nettles, while the adults sip nectar from such plants as Buddleia and Jupiter's Beard. They also feed on overripe fruit.
The Red Admiral sports a girl's name, Vanessa, for its genus, and Atalanta for its species. In Greek mythology, Atalanta is a strong woman who, according to Wikipedia, "faces obstacles and backlash for refusing to follow gender norms."
Gender norms? What's that? :)
Anyway, was the Vanessa atalanta that fluttered into our yard on May 9 facing some "gender norm" challenges when it nectared on Jupiter's Beard?
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
There's nothing like seeing an admiral at a marina.
That would be the Red Admiral butterfly, Vanessa atalanta, at the Berkeley marina.
It's often very common in the urban Bay Area, says butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis. The Red Admirals often share sites with West Coast Ladies.
"Both breed on the weed Parietaria judaica (Pellitory) there."
We also saw a West Coast Lady, Vanessa annabella, fluttering around the Red Admiral last Saturday.
But it's the other butterflies that Shapiro is concerned about. "At this time of the year, one used to see Great Coppers (Lycaena xanthoides) up the yin-yang on the 'waste ground' across the marina parking lot, between it and the freeway. Since they made it part of Eastshore Park, it seems to be gone. Typical!"
Other "marina fauna" from back when, he says, included Anise Swallowtails and Large Marbles. "The latter seems to be gone too; it's extinct regionally but there is one population I know of near Concord."
A renowned lepidopterist, Shapiro monitors the butterfly population in Central California and posts information on his website, Art's Butterfly World.
He's the author of the book, Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions, illustrated by Tim Manolis. "The California Tortoiseshell, West Coast Lady, Red Admiral, and Golden Oak Hairstreak are just a few of the many butterfly species found in the floristically rich San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley regions," Shapiro writes. He covers and identifies more than 130 species in the book.