Getting to know the locals: butterfly edition

Jensen on the hunt for butterflies!

Yesterday, lab members Jensen, Laura, and Dr. Bernauer attended Butterfly Discovery hosted by Landmark Conservancy and Beaver Creek Nature Reserve. We learned about the work that Landmark does to conserve and preserve land in Northwestern Wisconsin and visited one of their conservation easements, a former cattle pasture converted to prairie. Here, we improved our knowledge of local butterfly biology and were able to spend time frolicking through the prairie, catching butterflies to stock the Butterfly House at Beaver Creek!

The icing on the cake from our field trip was the opportunity to meet the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly (Plebejus samuelis)! Wisconsin is home to a relatively large and stable population of Karner Blues and we were fortunate to witness many individuals - both males and females - fluttering by. The individuals we encountered were quite friendly and often landed on us or our equipment.

Karner blue butterflies! Left: a male perched on our net; center: a male displaying the interior of his wings; right: another male perched on Dr. Bernauer's finger.

Karner Blue butterflies are threatened due to several factors including our changing climate (too much rain, or not enough can both be issues for the butterfly) and habitat loss or change. Ecologically, Karner Blue caterpillars rely on Sundial lupine (Lupinus perennis) as their food source, and benefit from mutualistic relationships with ants - the ants tend to Karner blue caterpillars, protecting them from predators and recieve a sugary secretion from the caterpillar in return. To support Karner Blues if you live in Wisconsin, you can plant native Sundial lupin (make sure it's not the invasive Lupinus polyphyllus, or a hybrid of the two) alongside other native flowering plants in your garden.

In addition to many butterflies, including many Monarchs (exciting!), we also spotted many other fun flower visitors enjoying the prairie. Notably, we spotted a paper wasp that had been parasitized by another insect, a Strepsipteran (look for the bulge between exoskeletal segments in the paper wasp below!). Strepsiptera, or twisted-wing parasites, are internal parasites of other insects thought to be close relatives of beetles. The adult female spends her whole life inside of the host insect, while the short-lived male is free flying as an adult.

Left: a paper wasp parasitized by a Strepsiptera nectaring on bee balm; Center: American Copper butterfly visiting butterfly weed; Right: Northern Amber Bumble bee visiting bee balm.

We ended our field trip with lunch and a visit to the Butterfly House at Beaver Creek, where we released the butterflies we captured and learned about their Monarch rearing program. Overall, we had a lovely day and learned many new things!

Left: a monarch nectaring on a feeder; Right: Jensen, Olivia, and Laura inside the butterfly house at Beaver Creek.