Management for Karner blue butterflies in most cases means management for the oak savanna and pine barrens ecosystem. In some cases it is hoped that recovery can be realized on lands managed for other purposes such as non-intensive forestry operations or military operations such as those conducted at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. Savanna and barrens ecosystems are as imperiled as the butterfly. Restoration and protection of savannas will lead to the recovery of Karner blues.
So synonymous are Karner blue and savanna management that Necedah National Wildlife Refuge has a savanna restoration and management plan instead of a Karner blue management plan.
The result of their plan has been the establishment of a large viable population of Karners and progress towards recovery of the species. As of , there are 40 partners in the HCP, with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources being one of the major partners and lead in this effort. Other partners include major forestry stakeholders, conservation organizations, county forest departments, utility companies, private landowners, The Nature Conservancy, and the Wisconsin Departments of Agriculture and Transportation.
This plan was developed to ensure that management and restoration of Karner blue habitat continues even though some habitat may be destroyed or degraded by partner activities. To ensure conservation of the Karner blue, all partners plan to incorporate conservation measures for the butterfly into their land management activities e. The partners are also developing an outreach and education strategy to further conservation of the butterfly and its habitat on other private lands in Wisconsin.
In other States, protection and restoration of savannas is occurring on many public lands, both Federal and State. And interested private landowners are providing savanna habitat for Karner blues. Habitat restoration efforts are ongoing on state property in Minnesota and on TNC, state, and private property in New York. The U. Fish and Wildlife Service and a host of other public and non-governmental conservation organizations, most notably the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, have undertaken significant protection and enhancement efforts in New Hampshire.
The Karner blue has been designated the official butterfly of the City of Concord as well as the state of New Hampshire. Fish and Wildlife Service prepared a Karner Blue Butterfly Recovery Plan that outlines a strategy for recovering the butterfly range-wide.
It identifies tasks to restore habitat and stabilize and recover Karner blue populations. The Recovery Plan was published in and is available online 1. Since the landing of the Pilgrims in , more than species, subspecies, and varieties of our Nation's plants and animals are known to have become extinct. In contrast, during the Pleistocene Ice Age, all of North America lost only about three species every years. This recent, catastrophic loss of biological diversity is continuing at an unprecedented rate.
Each and every species has a valuable ecological role in the balance of nature and each loss destabilizes that fragile balance. Once a species is extinct, it is lost forever. Experience has proven that many plants and animals have properties which will prove beneficial to humans as sources of food and medicine. It grows in pine barrens with dry, sandy soil with little or no shade. There are currently two pine barren ecosystems in New Hampshire, one in Concord and one in Ossipee.
The blue lupine only grows in Concord. The female Karner blue Did You Know? The Karner blue was named by novelist and lepidopterist butterfly expert , Vladimir Nabokov. When the eggs hatch, the Karner blue caterpillars eat the blue lupine leaves. It's All Connected Karner blue butterflies depend on blue lupine, and blue lupine depends on pine barrens, but pine barrens are hard to find! Pine barrens are flat and have dry, sandy soil.
The soil in pine barrens is very acidic. When settlers first came to New Hampshire, they didn't have much use for the pine barrens. Because the land was so acidic, it wasn't good for planting crops.
One of the plants in the pine barrens that the settlers did find a use for was the pitch pine Pinus rigida. The pitch pine tree wasn't good for wood like the white pine tree Pinus Strobus , but it was good for other things!
Settlers would tap the trees for their pitch. Opler, P. Butterflies East of the Great Plains. John Hopkins University Press. Rabe, M. Michigan Natural Features Inventory. Savignana, D. University of Texas. Savignano, D.
Scott, J. Struttmann, J. Butterflies of North America. Swengel, A. Great Lakes Entomologist , 28 2 : United State Fish and Wildlife Service. Zimmer, D. To cite this page: Barton, B. Disclaimer: The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource written largely by and for college students.
ADW doesn't cover all species in the world, nor does it include all the latest scientific information about organisms we describe. Though we edit our accounts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee all information in those accounts.
While ADW staff and contributors provide references to books and websites that we believe are reputable, we cannot necessarily endorse the contents of references beyond our control. Lycaeides melissa Facebook.
Geographic Range The range of Lycaeides melissa covers the northern and western United States, portions of central and western Canada, and extends southward to northern Baja California, Mexico. Scott, Inyo Blues, L.
Biogeographic Regions nearctic native Habitat Karner Blues inhabit sandy pine barrens, lakeshore dunes, and sandy pine prairies that contain abundant lupine, Lupinus perinnis , their only larval foodplant.
Fish and Wildlife Service, ; Struttmann, ; Rabe, Melissa blues prefer dry ridges with tall-grass prairie biomes. Opler and Krizek, Habitat Regions terrestrial Terrestrial Biomes savanna or grassland forest scrub forest mountains Physical Description The upper surfaces of adult male Karner Blue wings are dark blue.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Karner Blue eggs have been described as very small and radially symmetrical. Breeding season weeks Range gestation period 5 to 10 days Average gestation period 7 days Lepidopteran species do not provide any care for their offspring after the eggs are laid. Opler and Krizek, ; Swengel, Adult Karner Blues have been observed nectaring on over 50 different species of flowers.
Known Predators pentatomid stink bugs Podisus maculiventris paper wasps Polistes metricus ants Formica incerta tachinid flies Aplomya theclarum braconid wasps Apanteles ichneumonid wasps Paranoia geniculate spiders Araneae robber flies Asilidae ambush bugs Phymatidae assassin bugs Reduviidae dragonflies Anisoptera Ecosystem Roles Most butterfly species serve as pollinators to a variety of plant species upon which they nectar.
Creatogaster cerasi Dolichonderus plagiatus Formica spp. Lasius spp. Monomorium emarginatus Myrmica spp. Paratrechina parvula Tapinomo sessile Tetramorium caespitum. Nearctic living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. Read more Classification Kingdom Animalia animals Animalia: information 1 Animalia: pictures Animalia: specimens Animalia: sounds Animalia: maps Insecta: information 1 Insecta: pictures Insecta: specimens Insecta: sounds Lepidoptera: information 1 Lepidoptera: pictures Lepidoptera: specimens Lycaenidae: pictures Lycaenidae: specimens Lycaeides: pictures 5.
Lycaeides melissa: information 1 Lycaeides melissa: pictures 3. The first set of eggs hatch in April. Larvae feed for a few weeks before cocooning. Adults emerge from cocoons and fly during the first days of June. Those adults lay new eggs, which hatch about a week later. These larvae also feed for a few weeks, and cocoon and fly as adults in mid-August. Their eggs don't hatch until the following spring.
Adult karner blue butterflies have a very short lifespan, usually only five days or so. Some females have been recorded living up to two weeks. Larvae feed only on the wild lupine plant. They have a symbiotic relationship with ants. Ants protect the larvae from predators and in return feed on a liquid it secretes.
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