ABERRANT AUTUMNAL MIGRATION OF THE EASTERN POPULATION OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY,<i>DANAUS P</i>.<i>PLEXIPPUS</i>(LEPIDOPTERA: DANAIDAE) AS IT RELATES TO THE OCCURRENCE OF STRONG WESTERLY WINDS

Abstract

Abstract Strong westerly winds occurring during autumnal migration of the eastern population of the monarch butterfly in North America, affect those butterflies migrating from areas east of long. 90°. The following aberrant migratory routes are presented: (1) Migrants moving down the Atlantic coast pass through the Florida peninsula to western Cuba thence to the overwintering site in Guatemala and Honduras; (2) migrants forced over the Atlantic ocean eventually reach the Bahama islands and thence to Yucatan, or Honduras via Jamaica and other islands of the Caribbean Sea, to the overwintering site in Guatemala and Honduras; (3) migrants arriving in the eastern islands of the Greater Antilles may eventually arrive in the Cordilleran mountains of Columbia and northwestern Venezuela; (4) migrants from the Lesser Antilles may return, along with members of a first generation, in the spring without establishing an overwintering site—the fate of these few occasional spring migrants is unknown.