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The Karner Blue Butterfly
This is one of my favorite butterflies, I remember seeing so many of them while I
was growing up.
I haven't seen one since. Have YOU? It is my plan to bring them back to Berrien
County,
by hand rearing and supplying them with their natural habitat. This project will
take years to develop.
I will keep you updated here in my Karner Blog.(Coming soon!)
STATE OF MICHIGAN Status: T - Threatened (legally protected)
US Status: LE - Listed Endangered.
The caterpillar of the Karner blue butterfly is finicky. Feeding solely on leaves
of the wild lupine plant this Federally endangered butterfly can live only where
lupine thrives. A subspecies of the Melissa blue butterfly, the Karner blue is a
relatively small butterfly, averaging around 1 inch in wingspan.
The male wings, across the top, are silvery blue to dark blue with narrow black margins.
Females are graying brown with bands of orange inside the blade border.
Found around the Great Lakes and the northeast United States, the Karner blue typically
inhabits semi-shaded areas with sandy soil. It is a fairly sedentary creature; rarely
venturing farther than 300-600 feet from its hatching place. There are two broods
each year of the Karner blue. The first winter, as eggs hatching in April, emerges
at the end of May and June. Adults are in flight the first 10-15 days of June, then
lay eggs, which hatch in about a week and feed as larvae for about 3 weeks, flying
as adults into mid-August. The second brood hatches the following spring. Individual
adults usually live only approximately 5 days, though some females live as long as
2 weeks. Larvae feed only on the wild lupine plant and are tended by ants, which
feed on a sap the lupine secretes. The Karner blue butterfly experienced drastic
declines in the 1970's and 1980's. It is now believed to be near-extinct in Illinois,
Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maine, and New Hampshire, and Ontario and is listed as Endangered
by the US government. The main threat to the species has been habitat loss and degradation.
Because the larvae feed only on wild lupine, habitats are also lost to succession,
the lupine being eventually shaded out by pines, oak, and shrubby vegetation.US-31
by-pass Mistaken Identity? Really didn't matter. Both butterflies are in danger of
becoming extinct While progress was being made on the southern end of the freeway,
the picture was not quite so rosy on the northern end. While the original FEIS for
the entire US-31 corridor from Matthew Rd to I-94 had been approved in 1981, the
Blue Creek Fen between Benton Center and Millburg was soon after identified as a
unique resource. According to MDOT documents,
the fen provides habitat to many unique species including the
Mitchell's satyr butterfly, identified as a Federally Endangered Species in 1991.
(For reasons still unclear, the endangered species first identified in the fen was
the Karner Blue butterfly, which at some point was connected to the Mitchell's satyr.)
Because of this, the U.S. Fish & Game; Wildlife Service required MDOT to revise their
original plans for crossing the fen and the creek, including the use of long bridges
instead of relying heavily on cut-and-fill techniques. Both of these butterflies
are rarely seen in Michigan although, at one time, they were found throughout Berrien
county. They do look similar since they are related. They are BOTH Endangered and
protected by the federal government. Mitchell's satyr butterfly STATE OF MICHIGAN
Status: E - Endangered (legally protected) US Status: LE - Listed Endangered State
Rank: Critically imperiled. The primary threat to the continued survival of this
species is habitat loss and modification. Many of the wetland complexes occupied
currently have been altered or drained for agriculture or development. Wetland alteration
is responsible for extirpating the single known satyr population in Ohio. Wetland
alteration also can lead to invasion by exotic plant species such as glossy buckthorn
(Rhamnus frangula), purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), common buckthorn (Rhamnus
cathartica), and the common reed (Phragmites australis). In addition, landscape-scale
processes that may be important for maintaining suitable satyr habitat and/or creating
new habitat, such as wildfires, fluctuations in hydrologic regimes, and flooding
from beaver (Castor canadensis) activity, have been virtually eliminated or altered
throughout the species
Resources
Michigan Natural Features Inventory http://web4.msue.msu.edu/mnfi/Michigan.gov
Department of Natural Resources. Michigan Highways MDOT
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