- On the East Line Highway going toward Qionghai? I am
assuming that this is the same area hard hit by H5N1.
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- Sponsored in part by Elsevier, publisher of The International
Journal of Infectious Diseases
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- From Dan Silver Souce: Hainan SEZ News and Xinhua (Translated
by submitter Dan Silver; edited)
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- Thousands of butterflies die on the East Line Highway
in Hainan Tens of thousands of beautiful butterflies have died and been
scattered along the East Line Highway. This was personally seen by the
reporters Liu Wei and Li Zhi yesterday morning [29 Jun 2005]. The cause
of death of the butterflies has yet to be authoritatively explained.
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- On 29 Jun 2005 at 11:00 a.m., the reporters drove along
the East Line Highway towards Qionghai. From kilometer 8, the colorful
dead butterflies were scattered along the road and began to attract attention.
At first, the reporters believed that the butterflies had hit car windshields
and died. But further down the road, there were more dead butterflies.
By kilometer 12 the dead butterflies could already be described as numerous.
At kilometer 12, the reporters got out of the car for a closer inspection.
Every one or 2 meters along the shoulder of the road there were one or
2 dead butterflies. In some places they were relatively more concentrated,
and some off-road sites had about 10 butterflies, most of which were dead,
while a few were fluttering weakly and then died. The butterflies were
of various sizes, some beautifully colored. The reporters discovered several
dead butterflies in the grass past the guard rail. With each passing car,
dead butterflies were carried by the wind and then dropped back down. As
the reporters continued along the road there were numerous dead butterflies
which did not thin out until kilometer 23. After kilometer 24 they were
essentially not seen.
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- The reporters asked 2 patrolling highway management personnel
the cause of the butterfly deaths. They said they had never before encountered
this kind of situation and that it might have been caused by excessive
heat.
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- http://www.xinhuanet.com/chinanews/2005-06/30/content_4541706.htm
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- ProMED-mail
- promed@promedmail.org
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- Hainan is well known for its butterflies, and has been
called the Butterfly Kingdom. There are 609 species of butterflies on
the island, which represents about half the butterfly species of China.
The Jianfengling rainforest has one of the world's biggest concentrations
of butterflies and is sometimes known as the Butterfly Valley.
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- I have no idea what caused the death of these butterflies,
what species they were, or whether the dead butterflies comprised more
than one species. However, butterflies often migrate in large numbers
and when they cross busy highways many are killed, as I have seen in northern
Nigeria. It is well known that extreme weather conditions can cause mortality
of adult butterflies, as has been recorded in the Monarch butterfly (_Danaus
plexippus_). Butterflies do become infected with various pathogens, but
death occurs in the larval stages. Possibly more information will be forthcoming
on the species of butterflies dying in Hainan and the causes of such mortality.
- Mod.MS ......ms/pg/lm
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- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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