Nature: Baltimore checkerspot butterfly sighting a rare and joyous occasion

 

About 140 species of butterflies have occurred in Ohio. These insects are among our most popular “bugs” due to their often flashy and colorful patterns and extroverted diurnal habits.

While people in general probably spend far more time and money trying to eradicate insects on the homestead than attracting them, butterflies are an exception. Butterfly gardening is popular, and many books have been written on the subject. Just about everyone would want great spangled fritillaries, monarchs and tiger swallowtails bouncing around the garden.

But try as one might, even the greenest thumb won’t attract all of our butterflies. Some species are just too specialized to be lured from the wild and enticed to take up residence among ornamental botany, native species or not.

The Baltimore checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton) is one such species. What those of us who endeavor to bring butterflies to the yard wouldn’t give to attract these scaled gems! But I’ve not heard of anyone doing so. Although now that I’ve said that, someone will probably tell me they have, and I welcome such reports. It will give hope that luring one of our most sensational butterflies is indeed possible.

Baltimore checkerspots are fairly large insects, perhaps two-thirds the size of the familiar monarch. The upperwings are a deep purplish-black, and a bold orange band delineates the wings’ trailing edges. Bright-white chevrons stipple much of the rest of the wings, punctuated with several orange blotches.

But the common name is derived from the underwings, which are gaudily patterned in a striking arrangement of white and orange checkerboarding. From top or bottom, the butterfly is a showstopper.

The rub for would-be landlords of checkerspot colonies is their botanical finickiness. Early-stage Baltimore checkerspot caterpillars will feed on only one plant species: turtlehead (Chelone glabra). This is an example of extreme specialization and involves a plant that isn’t very common in Ohio.

While turtlehead has been documented in at least 64 of Ohio’s 88 counties, it is uncommon and most of those plants do not occur in the spring-fed botanically diverse wetlands favored by Baltimore checkerspots.

Gardeners can buy turtlehead, and I’m told it isn’t that hard to grow, but it doesn’t mean checkerspots will magically appear. The butterflies do not appear to roam far from their places of origin, unlike many other butterfly species.

On June 18, Nathan Mast of Knox County took me to see a Baltimore checkerspot population in nearby Coshocton County. Mast is an extraordinary naturalist and has made many interesting finds over the years. We didn’t have to work hard to gain access to the small wetland. It was right off a country lane and only required traversing a barbed wire fence.

The little wetland covered less than an acre but was full of interesting plants including a rich variety of natives. Seepages emanating from a small bank kept things soggy and created excellent growing conditions for a colony of turtlehead.

It didn’t take long to find the checkerspots. Temperatures were unseasonably cool, but we still saw a dozen or so basking or nectaring at flowers. Mast's high count is about 40 butterflies. This postage-stamp-sized site is pretty typical of other places that I have seen Baltimore checkerspot colonies.

I appreciate Mast showing me these gorgeous insects. Afterward he took me to a site that harbored an even rarer butterfly, the Edward’s hairstreak (Satyrium edwardsii). These little gems have only been found in 10 Ohio counties and have a fascinating relationship with Allegheny mound ants. But that’s a story for another time.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.