Researchers race to conserve rare New Hampshire mountain butterfly species
The White Mountain Fritillary butterfly is orange and black like the monarch butterfly but with different markings. It's found only above 4,000 feet in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains.
GORHAM, N.H. (AP) — Efforts are underway to save a rare species of butterfly in the mountains of New Hampshire, but scientists are still learning about it and how it may be at risk.
The White Mountain Fritillary butterfly is orange and black like the monarch butterfly but with different markings. It’s found only above 4,000 feet in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, and it soon could be added to the federally endangered list if conservation efforts aren’t successful.
Heidi Holman, who led a successful 16-year project to conserve the Karner Blue butterfly, began a similar effort with the White Mountain Fritillary four years ago. She told New Hampshire Public Radio that not much is known about the species, and that it took an entire year to determine which insects were female.
She and her colleagues have been catching the female butterflies, gathering their eggs and then releasing them back on Mount Washington. The hatched caterpillars will be studied over the winter.
Finding out what the caterpillar feeds on will be critical in determining both the threat to the fritillary and a possible way forward, should the host plant itself be in jeopardy from changing seasons or weather patterns, she said.
“We’ve always known that there’s a risk to the species in the face of climate change,” she said. “If we don’t know the host plant, we don’t know if that’s at risk, and then how quickly the habitat could be at risk.”
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