August 2004

A season at Schovenhorst, 1928

Willem N. Ellis, Dick Groenendijk & Rob de Vries

In the library of the Dutch Entomological Society, a notebook was found that belonged to the renowned entomologist J. Th. Oudemans. It gives important information on our past lepidopteran fauna, containing detailed lists of moths observed on an estate at Schovenhorst in 1928. The habitat of dry heathland with coniferous trees produced records of 286 moth species, both common and rare at that time. Interesting observations include those of Fagivorina arenaria, Chloroclysta siterata and Lycophotia molothina.

Information on butterflies and dragonflies for local authorities

Ralph Pitio

Nowadays, many local authorities in the Netherlands are managing their green space in an environmentally friendly way. Information on this type of management is an important tool for gaining support from the general public. Cuts in expenses could lead to this information not being provided, leading in turn to lack of support from residents or council workers, and the necessary management measures not being carried out. Dutch Butterfly Conservation has provided local authorities with publicity material about the management of road verges and riverbanks, and at present is organizing workshops to assist them in its use.

Looking for special species

Kars Veling

In the spring of 2004, Dutch Butterfly Conservation started a new project to get an up-to-date picture of the distribution of butterfly species that are protected in the Netherlands. Field workers have been asked to visit sites of all known colonies of protected species. Hopefully, in this way, distribution data will also be obtained from sites that up till now have been poorly surveyed. This concentrated effort has already led to the sighting of a few butterflies of the Lesser Marbled Fritillary (Brenthis ino) and the White-letter Hairstreak (Satyrium w-album), species that were thought to have disappeared from the Netherlands.

I spy with my little eye

Albert Vliegenthart

The most important sense organs for insects are their compound eyes, the anatomy of which enables light to be absorbed efficiently. Two types of compound eyes are found in the Lepidoptera, the apposition eye of day-flying insects and the superposition eye that is usually found in the night insects.
Perception of colour is important for butterflies as it enables them to find food and recognize other butterflies of the same species. An experiment showed that they can be conditioned to one particular colour when looking for food.