Painted lady image; Credit: © Jorg Hempel (CC)As well as sun-seeking people, insects move between the Palaearctic and the tropics every year. The painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui stands out as one of the most welcome and pretty migrators of this type and was studied in this paper as well as in a forthcoming BBC programme. Southern European insects in spring are adults which fed up in North Africa. Then the European generations largely take over in another northward migration. Densities of population are low, until October, when the desert must be crossed by the wave of migration from Europe.

Source: The North Africa Journal October 05, 2016 08:26 UTC