RANGE EXTENSION FOR THE EUROPEAN SKIPPER, THYMELICUS LINEOLA (OCHSENHEIMER), 1808 (LEPIDOPTERA: HESPERIIDAE), IN MANITOBA

Abstract

Preston and Westwood (1981) reported on the distribution of Thymelicus lineola (Ochsenheimer) in Manitoba. They suggested that the species arrived here about 1970 by way of northwestern Ontario. At that time the population in central Winnipeg was the most western known in the Prairie region and they suggested that the spread of the species might be impeded by the arid nature of the Great Plains to the west. Klassen et al. (1989) noted that specimens subsequently had been taken 70 km west of Winnipeg at Rathwell(49°39'N; 98°33'W) near the western edge of the Red River Valley soils on the eastern edge of the Prairie. In 1986 Preston and McKillop collected the European Skipper at Eriksdale (50°52'N; 98°06'W) 100 km to the northwest of Winnipeg in the marginal lands of the interlake region (Klassen et al. 1989).