[ Up ] [ Previous Issues ]

In Association with the Great Plains Nature Center

Regal Fritillary Biology

The Regal Fritillary has seen a drastic reduction in its range in the last 60 years. Kansas is one of the few states where it may still be found in reasonable abundance. The reason for that is the Regal Fritillary is only found in tallgrass prairie habitat, which has disappeared rapidly elsewhere.

The latest in a series of research papers into the biology of the Regal Fritillary on the Konza Prairie has been published by Brian Kopper, David Margolies and Ralph Charlton of KSU in a recent issue (Vol. 24, No. 3, July 2001) of the Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. The authors cover life history notes including phenology of nectar plants used by the regal fritillary, and male flight and mate searching behaviors.

They also summarize male and female behaviors by month through the season from June through September. The series of papers produced thus far provide valuable documentation of the little-understood life history of this species and will be of much use in efforts to restore prairies and insure the continued survival of the species.

Publications to date by the researchers include:

• Kopper, B.J., R.E. Charlton, & D.C. Margolies, 2000, Oviposition site selection by the regal fritillary, Speyeria idalia as affected by proximity of violet host plants, J. Insect Behav., 13:651-665
• Kopper, B.J., D.C. Margolies, & R.E. Charlton, 2001, Life history notes on the Regal Fritillary, Speyeria idalia (Drury) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), in Kansas tallgrass prairie, J. Kansas Ent. Soc., 24(3):172-177
• Kopper, B.J., S. Shu, S.B. Ramaswamy, & R.E. Charlton, 2001, Evidence for reproductive diapause in the regal fritillary Speyeria idalia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), Annals Ent. Soc. America, 94:427-432

(Ralph Charlton was our guest speaker at the spring 2002 meeting of the Ark Valley Butterfly Club, and he summarized for us what was learned during these studies.)

Monarch News

We hit the jackpot this year! Several monarchs tagged by us locally were recovered on the El Rosario monarch sanctuary in Mexico. Here is the list of recoveries:

• Sheryl Van Doren had two recoveries. One on February 16 and another on March 1.
• Roy Beckemeyer also had two recoveries: February 18 and 26.
• Nancy Mangeri had one recovery on January 11.
• Of the 85 we tagged on September 22 last year at Chisholm Creek Park under my name, three were recovered between February 26 and 28.

The big news over the winter was the catastrophic losses in the overwintering colonies due to a bad cold snap combined with rain/snow. Millions of monarchs died in that event, which may limit the number of monarchs we see this summer.

How many monarchs have you seen so far this year? Roy Beckemeyer saw one on the April 19, Nancy Mangeri reported a male on April 18 and Karla Jahn saw a female on the April 17. The milkweed is up, so keep an eye out for the new arrivals from south of the border!!

Spring Sightings

So far this spring we have seen:
Giant Swallowtail
Spring Azure
Eastern Black Swallowtail
Red Admiral
Question Mark
Silver-Spotted Skipper
Monarch

New Order of Insects Discovered

Oliver Zompro, a doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute of Limnology in Plön, Germany, thought there was something odd about some insects fossilized in 45 million year old amber that had been sent to him for identification. By chance, at about the same time he was asked to look at an unclassified specimen that had been sitting in the British Museum in London for 16 years. He realized he was seeing the same type of critter as in the amber and that they did not fit into any of the known groups of insects. It looked like a stick insect, but when he cut it open, it had insect parts in its stomach. Stick insects are vegetarian. It also had spiny forelegs like a mantis - again, unlike stick insects.

Oliver sent out a plea to see if anyone had seen anything similar recently and got a positive response from Namibia. An international expedition to the area found living members of two species in this new group that has been named the Mantophasmatodea. If you would prefer something simpler, Oliver is calling these bugs gladiators! A formal announcement of their discovery was made in Science magazine's April 18, 2002 issue.

It is not unusual to find a new species of insect, and in fact, hundreds of new species are described each year. But the last time a new ORDER was identified was when the rock crawlers (Grylloblattodea) were added to the insect family tree in 1914.

Fortunately, the site in Namibia where these critters are living is already a protected natural area with strictly controlled access privileges. So these rare insects may be saved from possibly being driven to extinction by rogue collectors anxious to complete their specimen drawers at any cost. And the word has gone out to researchers across the world, who will now be looking for this "new" type of insect in other places.

You can find out more about this amazing discovery online at:
http://www.sungaya.de/mantophasmatodea
or
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0328_0328_TVstickinsect.html

Return to Top of Page
Return to AVBC HOME PAGE