Indiana Metalmarks

Our visit took us to the banks of the Ohio River

Unlike populations further to the north, swamp metalmark butterflies in southern Indiana have two generations annually. The second one flies in mid August. Last year, members of my department visited and found dozens of individuals, the largest population we have yet encountered. A couple of weeks ago, I returned for some further work with this population. My goals were:

1. Do a mark/release/recapture study, incorporating GPS to measure dispersal rates of the species
2. Obtain a few specimens to test for an insect pathogen called Wolbachia
3. Obtain females from which to obtain eggs in order to try to develop methods to hold larvae from this species over the winter

This year, I went down with Andy. a member of the horticultural staff at the museum. We had beautiful weather, but were disappointed to find far fewer metalmarks than we did last summer. We were unable to complete the dispersal study, but did manage to to GPS mapping of the capture location of the 18 or so specimens that we marked. Having been able to mark very few individuals, we recaptured only one. No statistical analysis possible here. Still we got four females and have a bunch of eggs in the lab. We also have sufficient material for Wolbachia testing.

Marked metalmark
These guys are so tiny that it's really hard to mark them

Although we found few metalmarks, we did see lots of other butterflies, including three lifers for me: Hoary-edged Skipper, Goatweed Butterfly, and Gemmed Satyr.

Goatweed Butterfly (Anaea andria)

Hoary-edge Skipper (Achalarus lyciades)

In addition to new species, I was able to get some better photographs of familiar species. I was most pleased with the Tiger Swallowtail and Least Skipper.

Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

Least Skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor)

What do do when the big experiment of a trip for field study turns out to be a bust? I consoled myself with a stop at Falls of the Ohio State Park on the way home to check out the tiger beetles. I got some decent photos, including the Coppery Tiger Beetle, another lifer for me.

Coppery Tiger Beetle (Ellipsoptera cuprascens)