Editor's Pages

The Editor's Pages
INSECTIFERA 1999 NO. 1

A new year has begun. On the insect front in Gästrikland, not much has happened so far. Stoneflies and springtails got going during a few warm days in February. However, snow still lay heavy over large parts of the province in early May following what was perhaps the century's—or even the millennium's—heaviest snowfall on December 5–7, 1998 when we received 130 cm of snow in 2 days! Whether all this snow is for good or ill for our insects remains to be seen. We had scarcely any frost at all, so at least mice and voles should have had a pleasant winter in their warm tunnels, well protected from foxes and owls. As this is being written at the end of May, the snow has almost completely disappeared. That voles and mice had a good time is now easy to see. It looks as though a little rogue tiller had wandered around on our meadow during the winter! Certainly, a good many larvae and pupae in the soil have become vole and mouse food.

As I sit now gazing out over the stillness of our butterfly garden, where only a few marsh tits with their short trills break the silence, I cannot help but think of the wet but intense "summer" of 1998 with the 9th Swedish Entomological Meeting as the year's entomological highlight.

This annual meeting was also the largest event our young society has engaged in. Had we known what a wet summer 1998 would bring, we might perhaps have worried even more. As it is, we have experienced that everything went well nonetheless, and I want to take this opportunity to thank all the positive letters we received from participating entomologists throughout Sweden. For me as chairman, it naturally feels good that it is all now "over," but one can certainly still feel the warmth that so many of the participants expressed at the meeting. It will be pleasant to go to the Öland meeting on June 18 and just "be there."

I have now been chairman of the society for its first 7 years. These have been exciting and intensive years with many contacts with entomologists in both our province and the country as a whole, not to mention all the letters that have streamed in from virtually all over the world. Unfortunately, much time has been spent on the struggle against Banverket to save the Grinduga–Trösken area. However, this has also resulted in our confirming, through investigations that the society's members have conducted in the area, that the Grinduga–Trösken area occupies a special place in this part of the country regarding species worthy of protection.

I wish, as chairman of the society, with this issue of Insectifera, to thank you members for these 7 years. From next year the chairmanship should be taken over by someone else. I also believe that it is an advantage if this position "circulates" among the society's members to allow room for new ideas to emerge.

In our society we have not had a heavy bureaucratic organization with a nominating committee etc. At present, I am experiencing this for the first time as a shortcoming. How shall we arrange the succession in the society? I therefore wish to put forward some personal candidates for the new board so that the society's members have some names to consider ahead of a delayed annual meeting in the autumn.

I propose and hope that our vice chairman Ulf Nylander is willing to take the helm for our society for some years to come. Johan has stated that he would be happy to continue as secretary and that he hopes to have more time for society work now that he has scaled back his commitment to SNF. Björn Belfrage has promised to serve as treasurer if the society wishes. Gunnar and Clas continue as deputies. I would also be pleased to see Åsa or Krister take a position. I can imagine continuing as editor of the journal if the society's members wish this.

In the spring of 1998, the question of expanding the society to also include entomologists in Hälsingland came up. When we discussed seven years ago which area should be included in our newly formed society, I and several others felt that we should limit the area to the parts we ourselves knew, namely Gästrikland. Several of our neighboring societies—Dalarna, Uppland, Sörmland, Närke, Östergötland etc.—also each cover their respective provinces.

For a long time there has indeed been a "Norrlands Entomological Society" in Umeå. Since this society during the years it has existed has never invited people residing in Gästrikland—such as those who subscribed to Entomologisk Tidskrift—to any meetings, we in Gästrikland have also not felt connected to this society. This could of course be because they do not think Gästrikland belongs to Norrland, which I can actually have some understanding for. These and other aforementioned circumstances led us, when we formed our society in 1993, not to include Hälsingland.

Administratively, Hälsingland and Gästrikland have belonged together for centuries in Gävleborg County. Economically and socially, Gästrikland has since the 1500s had very close connections with Bergslagen, that is, Dalarna, Västmanland and Uppland. This cooperation has resulted during 1998, in matters including taxation where I myself work, in Dalarna, Gästrikland and Hälsingland forming a common region. Perhaps this would be something to discuss among us entomologists in these provinces as well. It increasingly seems questionable whether we can sustain an entomological society in each province. Perhaps we could open a discussion about cooperation?

The plans for a "Supplement" to Insectifera remain, and the first issues will come out during 1999. The first is presented below where Ulf Nylander describes a group of fantastic weevils from the Philippines. I myself hope in the coming years to be able to devote most of my free time to the butterflies of our earth. It is hoped that this can result in some articles in future issues of Insectifera. The monumental work "Systema Rhopalocera" can hopefully be completed in 2000 or 2001. It should be around 1000 pages with a systematic list of all approximately 50,000 species, subspecies and forms of butterflies on our earth, with information about where each of these flies on our earth.

Finally, as chairman, I particularly want to thank Clas and Johan for your work on documenting the butterfly fauna of Gästrikland during the years the society has existed. Warm thanks also to all who have provided information on insect finds in Gästrikland during these years. Warm thanks also to Karl Källander for his travel account from the Himalayas. I can also promise here that in the next Insectifera, Karl will continue to tell about his travels in South America!

Colias ponteni, has anything happened since last time??

Regular readers may remember my article about the mysterious alpine butterfly Colias ponteni which I told about a couple of years ago. This article has resulted in quite a lot of activity around the world. From a Japanese person completely unknown to me who obtained the journal in Germany came an exciting letter. He had at his own expense translated my long article into Japanese and then set off to Tierra del Fuego to try to rediscover the insect at the locations I specified in my article!!!!

Quite unbelievable—here one writes a small article in a Swedish local journal that causes a Japanese person to travel around the world. These Japanese never cease to amaze one. The place where I suspect that Kinberg or Ponten possibly may have taken Colias ponteni my Japanese friend unfortunately could not reach. It was terrain far too impossible to traverse by land. He did, however, manage to catch and purchase a large number of insects, including many Colias. However, no local collectors knew of this remarkable Colias ponteni. This possibly suggests that it may have been taken further north and therefore purchased by someone from a member of the Eugenie's crew on their visit to Port Famine.

One can equally well interpret this as the insects coming from some completely different place—why not Hawaii, as Ponten himself indicated to Wallengren when the latter described the insects.

When I wrote my article there were 6 examples of the species. Today we have 8 examples! 2 examples, a male and a female, have been added. These insects, however, are not freshly caught but have been found at the BMNH in London. One example was found according to

One can then suppose that he obtained it from Wallengren or ..... The mystery deepens regarding this remarkable insect. My Japanese friend has promised that he will make a larger expedition to the areas around the Strait of Magellan next winter!

Göran Sjöberg