The Checkerspot Butterfly
It has been the Maryland state insect since 1973.
Its scientific name is Euphydryas phaeton.
It has been declining since the 90’s in the Mid Atlantic and Maryland.
It used to be in 15 counties in Maryland, now it’s only in five.
It’s on Maryland’s “Watch list” even though it’s not officially endangered.
Its habitat is a wet meadow. It needs to have white turtlehead, a required larval food. It
needs to have sun and be open, with maybe grazing animals or occasional mowing.
Its eggs are laid in groups of at least 100 to at most 700 eggs under host plant (white
turtlehead) leaves.
Males perch low to the ground to attract females.
When the caterpillars are newly hatched they feed on the tip of the milkweed and are at
risk from falling off and parasitism by wasps that are a biotic part of their habitat.
They have one brood per year. These butterflies fly in from June to mid July.
The checkerspot butterfly has mostly black wings with white and gold details. Its
wingspan is 1 3/4 - 2 3/4 inches (4.5 - 7 cm).
Some behavioral adaptations are that it started to eat other plants than just white
turtlehead and it learned to live in meadows as apposed to just wetlands.
Some structural adaptations are the big spots on their wings that look like eyes that scare
away predators and their bright colors that make them look poisonous. (They are
poisonous to birds.)
The adults eat nectar from milkweed, viburnum, and wild rose.
The butterflies mate in February to May.
The adult butterflies emerge in spring. The male
checkerspot typically emerges four to eight days
before the female. The males have one goal, and
that goal is reproduction. They find and mate with
a female immediately. The male mates many
times while most females mate once during the
flight season. The adults also look for nectar.
Female lay several hundred eggs on the base of
varied plants. This happens in the spring, mostly
April and March. They take about ten days to
hatch. Once hatched, they climb on the
turtlehead and spin a web around the leaves.
They eat together. Turtlehead is the only plant that
the larvae eat. They shed their skin a number of
times and then hide under rocks or soil in a
diapause, which is a delay in development. After
this ends, they can resume eating and developing
into full grown butterflies.
Declining reasons
• Crop agriculture taken the place of their
habitats
• Changing habitats due to global warming
• Over-consumtion of the white turtlehead by
the growing population of white tailed deer.
• Insecticide on plants
• Insecticide put out to kill Gypsy moths, but
had a bad effect on the Butterflies
• Herbicide
Worst Case Scenario
The worst case scenario would be if the
chance parasitism of the larvae by the wasps
grew, and if their much relied on host plant
was gone because of over-consumption. Also,
if people continue to use toxic pesticides and
herbicides. If somehow, the butterflies are not
able to adapt to the climate change they will
die off. This is why we need to start helping
the butterflies right away.
FOOD WEB
predatorcottontail
rabbit.
Second
level
consumer
Predatorwhite
tailed deer.
Second
level
consumer
Predatororiole.
Second
level
consumer
Checkerspot
Butterfly. First
level
consumer.
Prey-white
turtlehead.
Producer
Preymilkweed.
Producer
Habitat = Brookside Gardens
Nature Center
Brookside Gardens is Montgomery County’s 50-acre public display garden
with distinct habitat areas including ones to support Checkerspot
butterflies. They have deer exclusion gates in place. In contrast, the places
where the butterflies are struggling, there are changes that need to be
made, such as how people use herbicides, pesticides and don’t have
fences to keep deer away. Brookside Gardens would be an ideal location
to reintroduce the Checkerspot Buttterfly. Checkerspots need a protected
home with a fence so the deer don’t come and eat all their food. Toxic
herbicides and pesticides will not be used here and those are a big, big
part of why the Checkerspot’s number is declining. These butterflies do
have predators and competition so there is not a risk of overpopulation.
The reintroduction of the butterfly will not damage the habitat because
they eat a limited number of types of food, and they have a healthy
balance of competition for their food. The checkerspot’s biotic factors
needed for survival in the habitat are grass, white turtlehead, milkweed,
predators, wasps and other Checkerspot butterflies. The abiotic factors
needed are a fence, sunlight, water, soil and oxygen.
Oxygen
-abiotic
Oriolebiotic
Sunabiotic
Rabbitbiotic
Grassbiotic
Milkweed
-biotic
Waterabiotic
Waspsbiotic
White
turtleheadbiotic
Checkerspot
butterfliesbiotic
Deerbiotic
Fence-abiotic
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The environmental impact of reintroduction of the checkerspot
butterfly is simple. Overproduction will not be a problem because
there is predators that eat the butterfly. There will be competition
for the Checkerspot’s main food source, the white turtlehead. That
will be maintained because there will be fences to keep away the
deer, and because of the large spots on the wings of the butterflies
that have been adapted over time. These resemble eyes and scare
away some predators. The habitats change due to people and
global warming, and it is not easy for the butterflies to get used to
the changing habitats, but like all organisms, they will adapt to the
changing habitats and environment over time. And if we use
Brookside Gardens as the location to reintroduce them, it will lead
to more protection and support of the Checkerspots because it is an
education garden which teaches visitors how to make the habitat at
their homes.
How will this plan help the butterflies?
This plan is going to help the butterflies by giving them a
protected space with all their needs fulfilled. There is a
balance between predators and prey, and a balance
between abiotic and biotic factors in the habitat. There is a
much needed fence to keep away the deer that eat most of
the white turtlehead. Having them away will help the
butterflies thrive a lot more because the deer is a big
reason why their population is decreasing. This plan will
give the butterflies time to reproduce and go back to the
numbers that they used to be. And if we use Brookside
Gardens as the location to reintroduce them, it will lead to
more protection and support of the Checkerspots because
it is an education garden which teaches visitors how to
make the habitat at their homes.