Hentz' Red-Bellied Tiger Beetle, Revisited

Three years ago, I made my first visit in many years that took me back to my home town in mid summer. On a walk in the woods, I stumbled upon a tiger beetle subspecies (Cicindela rufiventris hentzii) that is endemic to the Boston area. The beetle was on Agassiz Rock, a large granite outcrop that is owned and managed by the Trustees of the Reservation. Several months later, I was contacted by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, informing me that this is a state-listed (Threatened) species, and that this population was not in their database.

Agassiz Rock

For the first time since then, I'm back in Massachusetts at the right time of year to see hentzii. I went back today with several goals. I wanted to see that the population is persisting. I have a much better camera than I did in 2008, and wanted to try for some better photos. I am aware of a second rock outcropping about a half mile away from Agassiz Rock, and wanted to see if the beetle could be found there as well.



I was successful at all three of these goals. The population at Agassiz is small- I've never seen more than one individual per visit, but I did see one this time. I was able to get a series of photos with the new camera. I'm much happier with these pictures than with the ones from my old camera.

Cardinal Flower and Pickerelweed

The walk to the second rock outcropping is lovely. The land is owned by the Manchester-Essex Conservation Trust. A beautiful wetland stretches between Agassiz Rock and the other outcop. The Pickerelweed and Cardinal Flowers were potting on a spectacular display.

The Second Granite Outcrop

I've never been to the second granite outcrop before, though I have seen it from the highway many times. The tiger beetles are very well camouflaged, and fly less than many other species I am familiar with. Perhaps they persist better on the tiny islands of bare-rock habitat if they are reluctant to fly. I managed to see two individuals on this site.


On Wednesday, Leon and I are heading off to Martha's Vineyard. Who knows, maybe we'll see the last Massachusetts population of Cicindela dorsalis.

Some Rare (and not so rare) Stuff From the Fen

Yesterday was a Bluff Spring Fen workday. In addition to killing lots of lily of the valley, I took the opportunity to view some of the rare plants and animals at the Fen. Some of what I saw was truly rare.

Small White Ladyslipper (Cyprepedium candidum)

Small white ladyslippers are one of the Fen's rarest plant species. They are on the state list of Threatened species. For a number of years they have been decline at the Fen, so it's a pleasure to see them showing something of a resurgence this year.

Prairie Parsley (Polytaenia nuttallii)

Prairie Parsley is rare to the point that it's hard to find even in catalogs of prairie plants and seed. Ours came from seed collected years ago on a railroad prairie near Elgin. This is only the second time it has shown up on our site. It is not quite fully in bloom yet.

Seneca Snakeroot (Polygala senega)

Some of the plants at the Fen are not spectacularly rare, but still qualify as uncommon. This Seneca Snakeroot is from seed gathered at another railroad prairie remnant in Elgin. The seed was collected on the Fourth of July in 1994. It has been blooming at the Fen for about a decade now, and the population is expanding nicely.

Wood Betony (Pedicularis canadensis)

Wood Betony is both uncommon and uncommonly beautiful. I really like the mandala effect provided when I look directly down at the blooming spike.

Southern Dogface (Zerene cesonia)

Some relatively common things are rarely seen at the Fen. Dogface Butterflies are a southern species that only show up at the Fen about one year in five. Apparently 2011 is one of those years. They don't sit still long for photography. I'm really annoyed at that one blade of grass.

Baltimore Checkerspot Chrysalis (Euphydryas phaeton)

Baltimore Checkerspots are a fairly common species at the Fen. It's not unusual to be able to encounter several dozen on an hour monitoring transect. It's very unusual to find a chrysalis, however. Leon found this one on a skunk cabbage leaf.

Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)

Pearl Crescents aren't rare at all. I don't care. It's always good to see them, and I was happy with the photo.

IBCM V - Lake Skinner and the Quino Checkerspot

Wednesday was the final day of the IBCM California workshop. The weather forecast had been marginal, however we woke to a gloriously sunny day as we headed out for the Lake Skinner unit of the Southwest Riverside County Multi-species Reserve. The reserve is home to numerous endangered species and we would learn about, and perhaps see, the Quino Checkerspot butterfly. The preserve is perhaps the most beautiful place that we visited on this particular workshop. There had been snow at the high elevations, so the views of the nearby San Bernadino Mountains were particularly impressive.


The meeting room at the reserve is in a charming old one-room schoolhouse. A pair of Great Horned Owls were nesting in a large eucalyptus tree right outside. Unfortunately, my photo of the cute, fuzzy owlet did not turn out well, however one of the adults posed nicely on the building. One of the talks was given by Ken Osborn, who also spoke to us on the first day of the workshop. Ken presented a fascinating account of how local geology affected the soil chemistry, which in turn affected the growth habit of the checkerspot's host plant. It turns out that the caterpillars feed on the type of leaves that the plant produces on one soil type but not the other, so geology combines with host plant presence to determine the distribution of the species.


The meeting room at the reserve is in a charming old one-room schoolhouse. Nearby, a pair of Great Horned Owls was nesting in a tall eucalyptus tree. Photos of the cute, fuzzy owlet did not turn out well, however one of the adults posed nicely on the building. Ken Osborn, who also spoke to us on the first morning of the conference, gave a fascinating talk about how the local geology influences the distribution of the Quino Checkerspot.




As interesting as Ken's talk was, it was such a beautiful day that we were all eager to venture outside, both to see the preserve and to try to find the butterfly. This part of California is quite charming in late March. I really enjoyed walking in the softly green landscape and looking at the spring wildflowers.




It wasn't long before we started finding Quino Checkerspots. There was some concern that our visit was too late and that the butterflies would already be done flying for the year. Not so- we saw dozens of them and there were lots of opportunities for photography.

Quino Checkerspots are endangered because so much of their habitat has been converted to the ever-growing urban and suburban sprawl of southern California. It has been the subject of extensive conservation efforts and a lot of research. I hope that these efforts pay off in the long run. It's a very beautiful species.

IBCM V - Palos Verdes Blue

I'm in southern California attending the fifth installment of the Imperiled Butterfly Conservation and Management workshop. I'm having a great time, thought the weather has been touch and go. Yesterday we began by touring the sitr in Long Beach where the Palos Verdes Blue was re-discovered back in 1994 after having been thought extinct for 11 years.

Discussing the Palos Verde Blue in the Rain

The day began inauspiciously with rain, hard enough that I was briefly reminded of the underwater bioblitz in Indiana from a couple of years ago. Our hosts were gracious in the cold rain. That's Ken with the clipboard and Travis Longicore at the far right. Travis is an ecologist whose work I have admiredfor a while. I was pleasantly surprised when he approached me as we walked to one of the field sites and asked if I was Doug, adding that he was a fan of my blog. I was very complimented, and decided that it was high time to begin posting again. Hi Travis!

Palos Verdes Blue Release Site

After lunch the weather began improving and the decision was made to release a couple dozen adult blues that had been reared in the laboratory. Things (including the workshop participants) were still a bit soggy, but we had a successful field release. I managed to get some decent photos.

Palos Verdes Blue (Glaucophyche lygdamus palosverdesensis)

Underside View

We had lunch and some lectures at Friendship Park, another nearby butterfly release site. After lunch, we took a walk to the top of a hill in the park. The view to the east shows just how urbanized the immediate vicinity of this butterfly's habitat has become. Is it any wonder that this is now an endangered species? As we crested the hill, a lovely vista of the Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands came into view. It was a lovely opening day for the conference, and a good reminder of the importance of dry socks.

Urban Scene Looking East from Friendship Park

A Regal Afternoon

Land of Regal Fritillaries

There is nothing like spending a beautiful early autumn day collecting Regal Fritillaries for egg laying. Vincent, Robin, and I went out on Thursday, and had the opportunity to spend a picture-perfect day along the Kankakee River near the Illinois/Indiana border. We were a bit late this year. We managed to collect six females. Every fritillary that we saw was a female, which is an indication that we are getting pretty far along in the season here. I did not photograph any of the Regals that we saw. There weren't many and we really needed to focus our efforts on getting the moms collected for egg laying.

Little Yellow (Eurema lisa)

We got to see lots of species of butterflies. I was able to continue my summer project of getting digital images of local butterfly species. I was especially happy to be able to get a shot of the Little Yellow. This species has had a population explosion in northern Illinois this year. I've been trying unsuccessfully all summer to get a decent image of it.

Great Tiger Beetle Habitat

You can't see an image like this one without thinking about tiger beetles (well, at least I can't). I saw four species on Thursday: Punctured, Bronze, Festive, and Big Sand tiger beetles.

Big Sand Tiger Beetle (Cicindela formosa)

Festive Tiger Beetle (Cicindela scutellaris lecontei)

I was seeing Festive Tiger Beetles last week in Michigan. Ted aptly noticed that the one in my photo looked very green. This was true of many of the individuals that I saw up there. The one above is the more typical red color of this subspecies. Others in the Indiana population are much more blackish, including the one below.

Festive Tiger Beetle (Cicindela scutellaris lecontei)

Meanwhile back in the lab, we have set the six Regal Fritillary moms up for egg laying. Each female is placed in a white paper bag with strips of paper towel, a sprig of violet leaf (the caterpillar food) and a moist piece of paper towel. The females generally lay eggs all over the edges of the paper towel strips.

Paper Towel Strips, Violet Leaf, and Moist Paper Towel

Each Bag Contains a Female Regal Fritillary for Egg Laying

We have yet to get any eggs out of these girls (not unusual, it generally takes a few days for them to start). Still, we have no mortality yet and all six females are feeding well. We are hoping to put some of what we learned this past year into practice with the result of greater survival of the larvae over the winter.

A Regal Fritillary Mom Feeding in the Lab

IBCM IV - Oregon Zoo

Racks of Oregon Silverspot Caterpillars at the Oregon Zoo

It's hard to believe that it has been a full year since the series of Imperiled Butterfly Conservation and Management workshops began in Toledo. I've just returned a couple of weeks ago from the fourth installment at the Oregon Zoo in Portland.

Feeding Larvae

We're already pretty familiar with the butterfly conservation lab at the Oregon Zoo. Vincent and I visited a couple of years ago for some really great training from these folks. Since then our butterfly rearing has been far more successful. These scenes are very familiar to us. The first day of the conference involved lectures and a tour of the zoo. Sadly, I was not able to reconnect with my best penguin friend in the world.

Taylor's Checkerspot Habitat

Days two and three of the conference involved field trips. (Yay!! always the best part!) We visited one of the few remaining sites for Taylor's Checkerspot. After hearing about how awful the spring weather has been in the Pacific Northwest, we were thrilled to have a beautiful sunny day for our visit. I was a bit surprised at the site. In Illinois, very rare butterfly species are almost invariably found on sites with high-quality native vegetation communities. This site was dominated by an invasive grass and ox-eye daisy, a Eurasian plant.

Salt-spray Meadow Right on the Coast Just South of Newport

In the afternoon, conference organizers put us to work. We visited a salt-spray meadow, home to the federally endangered Oregon Silverspot. Conference participants helped release silverspot larvae and planted both host plants (violets) and a variety of nectar-producing plants to support the butterfly.

Nathan and I Release Oregon Silverspot Caterpillars

We spent the second night of the conference in Newport, a beach town on the Oregon coast. We had some free time late in the afternoon. I was excited to go down to the dunes to try to photograph the Pacific Coast Tiger Beetle. Unfortunately, the weather got cool and foggy. I was pleasantly surprised to find and photograph a single Oregon Tiger Beetle. Tony found a freshly-dead Pacific Coast Tiger Beetle, but , unfortunately, that was the only one that we saw.

Oregon Tiger Beetle (Cicindela oregona)

Dinner was at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. It was a nice surprise. I had not heard of it, and it's a delightful aquarium. I recommend it. I especially enjoyed the numerous tanks of jellies that they displayed. The evening's lecture as by Scott Hoffman Black, CEO of the Xerces Society.

Display of Jellies at the Oregon Coast Aquarium

Thursday involved a visit to NRCS, the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Eugene. This is a totally cool place. They grow all kinds of plants for conservation and restoration purposes, and they do it on an agricultural scale. They had all kinds of really cool farm equipment that had been modified to harvest seed from plants that are not agricultural crops. I was especially impressed with their arrangement for large-scale cultivation of violets for seed production. We could really use something like that here in Illinois.

Agricultural-scale Cultivation of Viola adunca

After lunch, we proceeded to a site where Fender's Blue, another endangered species, is being managed. Here again, I was surprised at the dominance of non-native plant species like tall oat grass, ox-eye daisy, and cow vetch.

Kincaid's Lupine, host plant of Fender's Blue

By this time, the participants were getting a bit giddy. Brian did an imitation of the Green Man. Tony, from the Henry Doerly Zoo in Omaha, did his usual death-defying number by handling a velvet ant. Velvet ants are wingless wasps with a potent sting that gives them the nickname "cow killers."

The Green Man

Tony Courts Death (Again!) by Holding a Velvet Ant

Since the crew obviously needed a bit of calming down, we had dinner at the brew pub at the Grand Lodge Hotel. The dinner speaker was Robert Pyle, author of many books including the Audubon Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. He autographed his book The Butterflies of Cascadia.

The next, and final, installment of IBCM isn't until June 2011. We're hosting at The Nature Museum, and the bar has been set pretty high. I'm looking forward to it.

Bilateral Gynandromorph of the Regal Fritillary

We have been having great success in the lab with our Regal Fritillaries. More on that soon. Today we got quite a surprise from a Regal that just emerged from its chrysalis. Regal Fritillaries are sexually dimorphic. There are two rows of spots on the upper surface of the hindwings. In the males, the outer row is orange. In females, both rows are white.

The right half of the individual in this picture is male and the left half is female. The shapes of the two hindwings are subtly different. Even the body is split in half this way- the right half has a single male clasper. Bilateral gyandromorphy, while rare, is not unheard of in butterflies. It probably goes unnoticed (at least by people) most of the time, because when the males and females share the same color pattern, the effect is quite subtle. This individual is likely sterile- unfortunate when you are trying to rear as many adults as possible in order to establish a new population.

Indiana Trek

Kirk guides us through Swamp Metalmark habitat at Clover Lick Creek

Earlier this spring the Nature Museum's Butterfly Restoration Project and Susan Borkin of the Milwaukee Public Museum were awarded a small grant from the Butterfly Conservation Initiative. This grant would allow us to visit a population of Swamp Metalmark Butterflies in extreme southern Indiana. The population was reported to be very large. The purpose of our trip was to verify the existence and size of the population, to evaluate the habitat at this site, and to clip small fragments from the wings of a sample of metalmarks for DNA analysis. We would also collect a female to bring back to Chicago for some further experiments on breeding the species in the lab.

Looking for Metalmarks

We were guided in our efforts by Kirk and Jason from the US Forest Service. I don't know what we would have done without them. They guided us right to the appropriate spots, and offered valuable insights into ecological changes (mostly brush advancement).

Male Swamp Metalmark

We were to visits two sites about a half hour apart. At Boone Creek, we found metalmarks almost immediately. They were present in small numbers- we only found about a dozen individuals. We hoped we would do better at Clover Lick, which was reported to have a larger population. In that, we were a bit disappointed. All told, we only found 4 individauls at Clover Lick, and these were scattered over a wide area.

This shows a tiny part of a huge number of butterflies we saw
puddling in a dry stream bed

We were lucky to have gorgeous weather during our visit. The number of butterflies that we saw was amazing- every butterfly milkweed that we came upon was covered with a half dozen swallowtails or Great Spangled Fritillaires. I got lots of nice photos.

Great Spangled Fritillary

The habitat assessment was revealing. Both the butterflies and their host plants appeared to prever edges between open fields and woodland. In these areas, the host plants were in shade for part of the day. We collected data on host plant density, canopy height, as well as population size for the swamp metalmark. I was able to get DNA samples, though not so many as I had hoped for.

Harvesting DNA Fragments

All told, it was a very successful venture. We got lots of environmental data, and now have a single female set up for egg laying in our lab. The population is almost certainly a lot smaller than we expected. That's a disappointment, but it's still very important to know.