Saturday, September 4, 2010

DINA YELLOW SPOTTED AT FAIRCHILD by Linda Evans

Photo by Linda Evans
The Dina Yellow was spotted recently at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.  Absent for more than two years, this beauty is back.  It was seen in the area in front of the west Visitor Center parking lot as well as in the butterfly garden.  While extremely rare in south Florida, it is often found at the Deering Estate just inside the main gate, at Castellow Hammock in the hammock, at the Kampong and at Camp Owaissa Bauer.  Local gardeners have found that if they plant the host plant, Bitterbush (Pitcramnia pentandra) in their garden and are close to a known population, they too may see them in their garden.  The Dina also uses the native Mexican Alvaradoa (Alvaradoa amorphoides).
Dina Yellow male
   Photo by Hank Poor
Dina Yellow female
 Photo by Hank  Poor
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  1. UnknownSeptember 29, 2010 at 3:03 PM

    The Dina had also returned to the Deering Estate at Cutler for the June 2010 NABA count, after being scarce or absent for a couple of years. Also, a private garden in Coconut Grove, loaded with Bitterbush and Mexican Alvaradoa, had been missing Dinas for about 3 years, but they are there in force now. Camp Owaissa Bauer seems to have held that Dina population fairly steadily and it is prosperous now. On the other hand, my yard in South Miami, loaded with Bitterbush and Mexican Alvaradoa, always had a modest Dina population until about 2004-05. I have blamed the hurricanes of those years for their disappearance, along with the absence of the necessary "corridors" allowing for re-population. Maybe I'm right, but in reality, the factors that contribute to the ebbs and flows of some species are waiting for graduate students and their theses! There's much we don't know. Elane Nuehring

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