Speyeria Idalia Research Articles

Measuring butterfly persistence in the face of deep uncertainty: a case study using the regal fritillary

Scientists have documented effects of climate and land use change across a range butterfly species. However, incorporating future climate and land use change into butterfly conservation plans is a difficult task. These difficulties arise mainly from assumptions that future processes are the same as past processes (stationarity) and because scientists cannot reliably predict the future (deep uncertainty). In this case study, I used land use and climate change scenarios to compare possible futures for the regal fritillary, a grassland butterfly in the central United States. My analysis indicated that climate and land use change have the potential to influence species persistence, but that climate change has the larger effect. Moderate warming scenarios may improve the possibility of persistence, whereas extreme warming reduces this possibility. My analysis demonstrates the importance of considering nonstationarity and alternative plausible futures in butterfly conservation planning.

Point‐scale habitat and weather patterns influence the distribution of regal fritillaries in the central United States

AbstractConservationists and scientists throughout the world consider butterflies important indicators of broadscale factors affecting global biodiversity. And like other facets of biodiversity, declines in many butterfly populations appear related to human activities, and the potential of their extinction could jeopardize key ecosystem services. The regal fritillary (Argynnis idalia), a butterfly associated with tall‐ and mixed‐grass prairies in the United States, is a species currently being considered for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. As with many butterflies, a paucity of data makes evidence‐based assessments of their population and distributional status difficult. Citizen science data provide one possible source of broadscale information about this species, but using these data is not simple because of spatial scaling and sampling bias problems. Here, we developed a model to analyze a data set from the citizen science program called the Fourth of July Butterfly Count (4JC) to make inferences about regal fritillary abundance in the Great Plains and Midwest regions of the United States. More specifically, we aimed to determine the extent to which grassland fragmentation, spring weather conditions, or other spatial factors were correlated with the intensity of use within 4JC survey areas. Our findings indicated that regal fritillaries used locations surrounded by grassland and with minimal forest cover. We included smoothing spline terms in our model, which indicated other sources of spatial structuring in these data. It is possible that these additional sources of variation could reflect variation in habitat quality. We also found that local averaged spring weather variables indicated that regal fritillary abundance varied over a wider range of precipitation conditions, but a narrower range of temperature conditions. Further analyses indicated that a systematic increase in temperature from climate change could lead to a pronounced northward shift in the regal fritillary's distribution. These findings have implications for the development of a recovery plan, since such a plan will need to outline a strategy that accounts for a range of patch sizes whose quality appears to vary spatially, as well as address numerous uncertainties about the future.

Genetic Diversity and Wolbachia (Rickettsiales: Anaplasmataceae) Prevalence Within a Remnant Population of Regal Fritillary, Argynnis idalia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), in South-Central Pennsylvania.

Eastern populations of the North American regal fritillary, Argynnis idalia Drury (1773), have been largely extirpated over the past half century. Here we report on the last remaining population of eastern regal fritillaries, located within a military installation in south-central Pennsylvania. Samples were obtained from field specimens during two years of annual monitoring, and from females collected for captive rearing over a five year period. Nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial sequence data do not suggest subdivision within this population, but excess nuclear homozygosity indicates negative impacts on genetic diversity likely due to small population size and potential inbreeding effects. Molecular assays did not detect Wolbachia endosymbionts in field specimens of regal fritillary, but sympatric Argynnis sister species showed high prevalence of Wolbachia infected individuals. Our results inform ongoing conservation and reintroduction projects, designed to protect the last remaining regal fritillary population from extirpation in the eastern United States.

Cattle grazing results in greater floral resources and pollinators than sheep grazing in low-diversity grasslands.

Land‐use and land‐cover change associated with agriculture is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. In heavily modified agricultural landscapes, grazing lands may be the only areas that can provide essential resources for native grassland species. Management decisions, such as choice of livestock species, affect the extent to which grazing lands provide suitable habitat for native species such as pollinators.Our study compared how sheep versus cattle herbivory affected floral resources and butterfly abundance across low‐diversity, former Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) pastures managed with patch‐burn grazing.Across all years (2017–2019), flowering species richness and abundance were significantly higher in cattle pastures than sheep pastures. On average, we recorded 6.9 flowering species/transect in cattle pastures and 3.8 flowering species/transect in sheep pastures. The average floral abundance per transect was 1278 stems/transect in cattle pastures and 116 stems/transect in pastures grazed by sheep.Similarly, we observed higher butterfly species richness, diversity, and abundance in cattle than in sheep pastures. In cattle pastures, we observed an average of 75 butterflies and 6.75 species per transect, compared with an average of 52 butterflies and 3.37 species per transect in sheep pastures. However, the butterfly community composition did not significantly differ between grazing treatments likely because agricultural‐tolerant, habitat generalists comprised the majority of the butterfly community. Five generalist butterflies comprised 92.3% of observations; Colias philodice was the most abundant (61% of observations). Speyeria idalia and Danaus plexippus, two butterflies of conservation concern, comprised less than 0.5% of butterfly observations.Our results, which are among the first attempt quantifying butterfly use of post‐CRP fields grazed by livestock, show that increased precipitation and cattle grazing promoted higher forb abundance and richness. However, additional interventions may be needed to enhance floral resources to sustain and improve pollinator diversity in these landscapes.

Corrigendum to: Intra-Annual Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Monarch Butterfly (Lepidoptera: Danaidae), Regal Fritillary (Lepidoptera: Heliconiinae), and Their Floral Resources in North Dakota, United States

Corrigendum to: Intra-Annual Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Monarch Butterfly (Lepidoptera: Danaidae), Regal Fritillary (Lepidoptera: Heliconiinae), and Their Floral Resources in North Dakota, United States

Intra-annual Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Monarch Butterfly (Lepidoptera: Danaidae), Regal Fritillary (Lepidoptera: Heliconiinae), and Their Floral Resources in North Dakota, United States

AbstractMany butterflies in the United States, along with their nectar resources, are declining. Large-scale conservation planning can be challenging, however, when butterflies and their nectar sources exhibit disparate spatiotemporal dynamics. We initiated a multi-year survey on monarchs (Danaus plexippus), regal fritillaries (Speyeria idalia), and floral resources across North Dakota from 2017 to 2019 to understand resource use through space and time. We surveyed three sites in each county in North Dakota, twice a year for 3 yr, for a total of 954 site visits. Our objectives were to 1) identify important floral resources for monarchs and regal fritillaries, 2) determine intra-annual spatial and temporal distributions of the butterflies and their nectar sources, and 3) quantify how floral resources influenced butterfly abundance and interacted with spatiotemporal factors (latitude, longitude, and flight season). Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), native thistles (Cirsium spp.), and blazing stars (Liatris spp.) were identified as particularly important nectar resources for monarchs and regal fritillaries; all plant and butterfly species exhibited unique spatiotemporal distributions. Monarch abundance at a site was positively related to the availability of flowering milkweeds, and regal fritillary abundance was positively related to the floral availability of native thistles and coneflowers (Echinacea spp.). These relationships were consistent across the spatial and temporal extent of our study, indicating that the butterfly–flower relationships we detected are maintained and relatively consistent across our study region and years. By accounting for spatiotemporal dynamics, we can help elucidate the persistence of butterfly-flower species interactions at large scales and inform conservation efforts for these threatened species.

Environmental Variables Influencing Five Speyeria (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) Species' Potential Distributions of Suitable Habitat in the Eastern United States.

Five closely related species of greater fritillaries occur in North America east of the Mississippi River: regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia Drury [Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae]), Diana fritillary (Speyeria diana Cramer [Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae]), great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele Fabricius [Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae]), Atlantis fritillary (Speyeria atlantis Edwards [Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae]), and Aphrodite fritillary (Speyeria aphrodite Fabricius [Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae]). The regal fritillary and Diana fritillary are species of concern, whereas the great spangled fritillary, Atlantis fritillary, and Aphrodite fritillary are relatively abundant within their respective ranges. However, the Atlantis fritillary and Aphrodite fritillary have experienced severe population declines within the last few decades. We created ecological niche models for these five species by combining each species' known occurrences with climate and environmental variables to identify important response variables and determine the potential distribution of suitable habitat for each species. Important climate variables differed among species, although minimum temperature of the coldest month was important for great spangled, Atlantis, and Aphrodite fritillaries. The regal fritillary responded the most to temperature seasonality, whereas the Diana fritillary responded to maximum temperature of warmest month and the great spangled fritillary responded to annual precipitation. Land use was important for all species except the regal fritillary and average annual relative humidity was important for all species except the great spangled fritillary. This study highlights the different climate and habitat needs for greater fritillary species with important implications for how each species is expected to be impacted by climate change. We also demonstrate the value of citizen science and photo sharing websites for providing important data for evaluating species distributions.

Species traits affect phenological responses to climate change in a butterfly community

Diverse taxa have undergone phenological shifts in response to anthropogenic climate change. While such shifts generally follow predicted patterns, they are not uniform, and interspecific variation may have important ecological consequences. We evaluated relationships among species’ phenological shifts (mean flight date, duration of flight period), ecological traits (larval trophic specialization, larval diet composition, voltinism), and population trends in a butterfly community in Pennsylvania, USA, where the summer growing season has become warmer, wetter, and longer. Data were collected over 7–19 years from 18 species or species groups, including the extremely rare eastern regal fritillary Speyeria idalia idalia. Both the direction and magnitude of phenological change over time was linked to species traits. Polyphagous species advanced and prolonged the duration of their flight period while oligophagous species delayed and shortened theirs. Herb feeders advanced their flight periods while woody feeders delayed theirs. Multivoltine species consistently prolonged flight periods in response to warmer temperatures, while univoltine species were less consistent. Butterflies that shifted to longer flight durations, and those that had polyphagous diets and multivoltine reproductive strategies tended to decline in population. Our results suggest species’ traits shape butterfly phenological responses to climate change, and are linked to important community impacts.

Regal Fritillary (Speyeria idalia) Sex Ratio in Tallgrass Prairie: Effects of Survey Timing and Management Regime

The regal fritillary, Speyeria idalia (Drury), was once a common inhabitant of North American grassland communities. Regal fritillary populations are commonly reported to have a male biased adult sex ratio (ASR) throughout their range. We assessed the observed ASR of regal fritillary throughout an annual flight period, investigated how the overall density of both sexes changed, and tested effects of prescribed fire, grazing and haying management treatments on male and female density. We found that regal fritillary exhibited an observed 2:1 male biased ASR across the entire emergence period. Our analysis also revealed that male density peaked earlier than female density in the flight period. Point estimates of density indicated sites that received prescribed burning at the moderate fire-return interval supported ≥1.3 times greater density of males and ≥5.6 times greater density of females versus sites burned with short and long fire-return intervals. Additionally, this effect was enhanced when combined with grazing which showed males were ≥1.9 times and females had ≥1.2 times greater point estimates of density in sites that were grazed and burned at a moderate fire-return interval versus other sites. The relatively stable status of regal fritillary within our study region suggests that a 2:1 male to female ASR may be considered the model composition of populations throughout their range. Likewise, the dynamic nature of the ASR throughout the flight period highlights the importance of conducting surveys across the flight period. Finally, these results corroborate an increasing number of research results that reveal common prairie management practices, such as prescribed fire can be applied within sites that contain regal fritillary and continue to support stable populations.

Fecundity of a Wild Regal Fritillary, Speyeria idalia (Drury), (Nymphalidae) from an Eastern Nebraska Prairie and Observations of Dispersal in Western Nebraska

Fecundity of a Wild Regal Fritillary, Speyeria idalia (Drury), (Nymphalidae) from an Eastern Nebraska Prairie and Observations of Dispersal in Western Nebraska

Sex-biased recapture rates present challenges to quantifying population sizes and dispersal behavior of the regal fritillary butterfly (Speyeria idalia)

The range of the regal fritillary butterfly (Speyeria idalia) has declined substantially due to habitat loss, leading to concerns about the long-term persistence of this species and a current assessment for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Understanding population sizes and dispersal patterns will be important for this assessment and implementing future conservation efforts. The regal fritillary is found in several small remnant prairies south of Sedalia, MO, USA and believed to have relatively large and persistent populations. The objective of this study was to conduct a marking study to quantify local population sizes, capture rates, and movements among state owned Conservation Areas. A total of 109 regal fritillaries were marked at three preserves; however, most effort was directed at Friendly Prairie Conservation Area that yielded a population size estimate of 79 individuals. Males were recaptured more often than females, while the population size estimate was sensitive to a small number of female recaptures. Therefore, a long-term monitoring program will be more efficient if it tracks male abundances, resulting in increased statistical power to detect trends. The low recapture rates of females hindered the ability to assess movement patterns, as females of most butterfly species exhibit long-distance dispersal. Movements of at least 2.9 km and 3.4 km for two males demonstrates connectivity among prairie remnants and may be the reason for the persistent population in this region. Increasing prairie habitat in an arrangement to facilitate movement across the landscape should be implemented to benefit the regal fritillary and other prairie habitat-sensitive butterflies.

Prescribed fire maintains host plants of a rare grassland butterfly

As grassland ecosystems transform globally due to anthropogenic pressures, improvements in our understanding of the effect of management on rare and threatened species in such landscapes has become urgent. Although prescribed fire is a very efficient tool for habitat restoration and endangered species management on fire-adapted ecosystems, the specific mechanisms underlying potential effects of burning on population dynamics of butterfly host plants are poorly understood. We analyzed a 12-year dataset (2004–2015), combining violet abundance, habitat physiognomy and fire history data from a fire-managed system, to determine factors influencing the spatiotemporal distribution and abundance of violets (Viola spp.), the host plants of the threatened eastern regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia idalia) butterfly. Our results demonstrate a critical role for fire in driving both presence and abundance of violets, suggesting management with prescribed fires can effectively promote butterfly host plants. In addition, we determined the character of habitats associated with violet presence and abundance, in particular a strong positive association with biocrusts. These results provide a roadmap for efficient site selection to increase the effectiveness of restoration efforts, including assessment of potential reintroduction sites for regal fritillary and other grassland butterflies and actions to promote the re-establishment of host plants in these sites.

Management regime and habitat response influence abundance of regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia) in tallgrass prairie

AbstractThe >2,570,000‐ha Flint Hills ecoregion of Kansas, USA, harbors the largest remaining contiguous tract of tallgrass prairie in North America, a unique system, as the remainder of North America's tallgrass prairie has succumbed to development and conversion. Consequently, the loss and degradation of tallgrass prairie has reduced populations of many North American prairie‐obligate species including the regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia) butterfly. Population abundance and occupied range of regal fritillary have declined >99%, restricting many populations to isolated, remnant patches of tallgrass prairie. Such extensive decline has resulted in consideration of the regal fritillary for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Although it is widely accepted that management practices such as fire, grazing, and haying are necessary to maintain prairie ecosystems, reported responses by regal fritillary to these management regimes have been ambiguous. We tested effects of prescribed fire across short, moderate, and long fire‐return intervals as well as grazing and haying management treatments on regal fritillary density. We also tested the relative influence of habitat characteristics created by these management regimes by measuring density of an obligate host plant (Viola spp.) and canopy cover of woody vegetation, grasses, forbs/ferns, bare ground, and litter. We found density was at least 1.6 times greater in sites burned with a moderate fire‐return interval vs. sites burned with short and long fire‐return intervals. Overall management regardless of fire‐return interval did not have an effect on density. Percent cover of grass had the strongest positive association, while percent cover of woody vegetation had the greatest negative effect on density. Our results indicate that patch‐burning is a viable and perhaps even ideal management strategy for regal fritillary in tallgrass prairie landscapes. Additionally, these results elucidate the importance of fire, particularly when applied at moderate‐return intervals to regal fritillary, and corroborate a growing suite of studies that suggest fire is perhaps not as detrimental to populations of regal fritillary as previously believed.

Multi-scale considerations for grassland butterfly conservation in agroecosystems

Global change threatens the persistence of multiple taxonomic groups, including butterflies. While conservation efforts for butterfly populations have increased, they are often hampered by a lack of true density estimates and a better understanding of ecological factors that influence density. Our objective was to enhance current grassland butterfly conservation efforts by using line-transect distance sampling to calculate density estimates and model the influence of landscape and local variables on butterfly density in the Northern Great Plains, USA. We calculated density for five obligate and ten facultative grassland species to produce one of the most extensive datasets for butterfly densities to date. In contrast to most previous research, we found that landscape variables influenced butterfly density more often than local variables. Specifically, the percent cover of perennial grasslands, crop lands, and wetlands appeared in 90% of species models, whereas common local variables—forb richness and invasive plant cover— appeared in 60% of best-ranked models. We expected the density of obligate butterfly species to decrease as invasive plants increased, but butterfly species' responses varied with larval diet, instead of habitat associations. Best-ranked models for Danaus plexippus and Speyeria idalia, two species of conservation concern with obligate host plants, did not include local host plant availability. Our results reiterate the importance of modeling species responses to variables across multiple scales and the potential benefits of conserving large tracts of grasslands. Although results emphasize the need for conservation at the landscape scale, managing for heterogeneous local scale variables will also help conserve grassland butterflies.

Historical and Ecological Insights from a Relictual Sandplain: Reexamining the Insular Moth Fauna (Lepidoptera) of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA

We summarize the primary records from more than 30 years of lepidopteran sampling across the largest of the southern New England offshore islands, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. This island supports one of the highest concentrations of regionally unique or threatened Lepidopteran occurrences in the northeastern United States, including more than 75% of the ∼90 moth species formally protected in Massachusetts and Connecticut combined, perhaps the most intact moth fauna in the region associated with barrens, heathlands, and other sandplain communities. The array of first recorded regional occurrences and unique records of species previously believed extirpated, absent, or in decline throughout mainland New England includes: Lycia ypsilon (S.A. Forbes, 1885), Ptichodis bistrigata Hubner, 1818, Amphipoea erepta (Grote, 1881), Cycnia collaris (Fitch, 1856), Catocala pretiosa Lintner, 1876, Eacles imperialis (Drury, 1773), Eubaphe meridiana (Slosson, 1889), Heterocampa variaWalker, 1855, Metarranthis apiciaria (Packard, 1876), Phytometra rhodarialis (Walker, 1859), and Spilosoma dubia (Walker, 1855). Associates of grass-dominated and maritime wetland habitats in particular are overrepresented among species now believed extirpated from Martha's Vineyard itself, including Speyeria idalia (Drury, 1773), Digrammia eremiata (Guenee, [1858]), Pyrrhia aurantiago (Guenee, 1852), Papaipema stenocelis (Dyar, 1907).We explore the associations of threatened moths with various habitats in the context of regional decline, and emphasize the relevance of moth life history requirements to understanding their distributions across inland, coastal, and island barrens with varied ecological and land use histories.

Disentangling effects of fire, habitat, and climate on an endangered prairie-specialist butterfly

Tallgrass prairie, arguably the most fire-dependent system in North America, is a Biome that has been essentially eliminated and is now exceedingly rare. Absent frequent disturbance, remnant tallgrass prairie rapidly converts to a dominant cover of woody plants. This creates unique challenges for conservation of prairie-specialist insects dependent on increasingly small and isolated habitats prone to direct and indirect threats from climate variability, habitat degradation, and management activities; or lack thereof. Regal fritillary butterflies (Speyeria idalia) exemplify this problem, with sharp population declines in recent decades and considerable disagreement on management practices, particularly in the use of prescribed burning to maintain habitat. Spanning 20-years (1997–2016), we evaluated regal fritillary populations within seven sites in relation to fire, habitat, and climate records to better understand these interacting effects on interannual and long-term population changes. Though fire had short-term negative effects on regal fritillary abundance, habitat quality was one of the most important factors explaining populations and was positively associated with prescribed fire. Burning every 3–5years maximized regal fritillary abundance, but even annual burning was more beneficial to regal populations than no burning at all. Unburned refugia are important in maintaining populations, but creating and maintaining high quality habitat with abundant violets (Viola spp) and varied nectar sources, may be the most impactful management and conservation tool. Regal fritillary butterflies were consistently more than twice as abundant on high quality habitats and this relationship held across, and often dwarfed the effects of, various prescribed fire regimes or climate variability.

Severe decline and partial recovery of a rare butterfly on an active military training area

Global patterns of land-use change have led conservationists to rely increasingly on human-dominated landscapes for biodiversity conservation. One set of such landscapes, military training areas, hold promise for conservation as they are widespread and often harbor rare habitat types. However, military training areas are often heavily impacted and are not managed primarily for conservation. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a military training area for conservation by assessing the population of an extremely rare butterfly, the eastern regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia idalia), for which the sole viable population is within Fort Indiantown Gap National Guard Training Center in Pennsylvania, USA. Long-term monitoring data exist for this butterfly, but analysis has been complicated by the non-conformity of count data to standard statistical assumptions, the natural history of these butterflies, and challenges inherent to monitoring on a military training area. To address these complications, we used a novel multi-step process with zero-inflated generalized additive mixed models in a Bayesian framework. Data included 23,492 transect walks over 18years. Our results provide the first comprehensive analysis of population trajectories for S. i.idalia, and indicate that after a long decline, populations have increased and, more recently, levelled. Temporal concordance of the increase with the onset of intensive logging and prescribed burning suggests the importance of large-scale, active management efforts. These results further clarify that, with active management of an appropriate scale, even the busiest military training areas can serve as effective sites for conservation. Thus, such areas may be underexploited for biodiversity conservation.

A descriptive analysis of Regal Fritillary (Speyeria idalia) habitat utilizing biological monitoring data along the big bend of the Platte River, NE

Speyeria idalia populations have declined as much as 95 percent over the last three decades. Here we critically evaluate prairie habitat components along the Platte River in central Nebraska that S. idalia populations require in an effort to better inform conservation efforts. We utilized S. idalia count data from biological monitoring transects where vegetation, soils, land management, and flooding frequency data were also collected to describe the habitat constituents associated with S. idalia presence. We utilize comparative statistics, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and random forest analysis to model S. idalia habitat on land owned and managed by a small conservation NGO. Our findings suggest that S. idalia occupies specific habitat niches with a preference for well-drained soils (Inavale series) dominated by facultative upland plants, most prominently Andropogon gerardii. S. idalia is positively associated with large connected tracts of relict prairie containing Viola sororia and very moderate management regimes that remove shrubby cover (negatively associated) and promote forb cover (positively associated), while providing ample recovery time on burned and grazed patches for litter development (positively associated). Random forest analysis describes the presence of V. sororia, percent forb cover, and habitat isolation as the top three habitat variables of importance in predicting the presence/absence of S. idalia. Our finding that habitat isolation is a major predictor of S. idalia absence suggests many populations may be both spatially and genetically isolated. S. idalia’s future demands the preservation of tallgrass prairie fragments under management regimes that promote healthy populations and habitat connectivity.

Complex Messages in Long-Term Monitoring of Regal Fritillary (Speyeria idalia) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in the State of Wisconsin, USA, 1988-2015.

The regal fritillary (“regal”) (Speyeria idalia) is endangered in Wisconsin, USA, and declining and at risk range-wide. During 1988–2015, we surveyed 24 known regal sites and >100 areas of potential habitat in Wisconsin. We recorded 9037 individuals in 742.7 km on the peak survey per year at occupied sites. At six sites surveyed over 5–25 years, we found regal fritillaries in only one year, mostly in the latter half of the study. The three populations in the state with more favorable trends than the median had a never-burned refugium and/or infrequent fire management. They also all had substantial amounts of grazing, haying, and/or mowing managements. Sites with trends below the regional median trend had frequent or moderate fire management, and either a diminishing never-burned refugium or none at all. Regal populations at sites with ≤15 ha of grassland have become undetectable. Nonetheless, Hogback, a slightly larger than 15 ha site, had the most favorable trend, a significant increase. Nearly all Wisconsin Regal populations known before 1990 declined to consistent non-findability, even though these were conserved sites. More favorable trends at more recently discovered populations may be attributable to species-specific habitat management protocols implemented in the 1990s. Two sites with better than median long-term trends represent the longest consistent land ownership of known Regal populations in the state. This wide range of population outcomes illustrates both the need for long-term monitoring and the challenges of explaining the outcomes. Despite evidence of increasing Regal dispersal, this species remains very localized, indicating the unsuitability of the wider landscape as regal habitat. The number of significantly declining or no longer detectable populations in Wisconsin indicates an ever more adverse landscape for this species. Sites will need to have habitat characteristics that are ever more optimal in a wide range of climatic conditions for Regal populations to persist.

Novel Observations of Larval Fire Survival, Feeding Behavior, and Host Plant Use in the Regal Fritillary,Speyeria idalia(Drury) (Nymphalidae)

ABSTRACT. Speyeria idalia is a prairie specialist that has experienced dramatic population declines throughout its range. Speyeria idalia is nearly extirpated from the eastern portion of its former range; however, populations within Kansas are relatively stable. We made several previously undescribed field observations of late-instar larvae and post-diapause female S. idalia in northeastern Kansas during 2014–2016. We report finding late-instar larvae at locations that were burned within weeks of detection. The observations of larvae shortly following a burn suggests that S. idalia larvae are capable of surviving fire and contradicts our current knowledge of this species. Additionally, we describe a feeding behavior characteristic of late-instar larvae. Larvae observed in the field and lab stripped leaves of host plants leaving only stems. This strip-style feeding behavior provided unique feeding evidence that was valuable to detecting the presence of larvae in the field. Finally, we documented larvae and...