Learn About Ohio Butterflies

On Thursday, March 14, we celebrated Butterflies Day at the Wilderness Center. We weaved conservation education together with real-world stories and habitat spotlights.

Butterflies Day Highlights

Endangered Karner Blue Butterfly

Butterflies and moths belong to the same biological group: LEPIDOPTERA.

Some common butterflies in Ohio are blues, whites, yellows, hairstreaks, brush-footed, and swallowtails.

There are about:

• 9 Blues

• 5 Whites

• 8 Yellows

• 18 Hairstreaks

• 23 Brush Footed

• 6 Swallowtails

Recently discovered fossilized remains indicate that butterflies have been on Earth for 200 to 250 million years. That means they were hanging around with the dinosaurs. Over this long history, butterflies have co-evolved with plants, flowers, and trees in mutualistic ways.

Cabbage White Butterfly

Orange Sulphur Butterfly

Here is an easy way to think about a butterfly’s life cycle in Ohio.

• Egg: Butterflies that overwinter in a chrysalis emerge around mid-April and lay eggs that will hatch around mid-May. (That’s a good reason to leave the leaves in the garden until at least the end of April, longer if you can.)

• Larva: The eggs hatch and the caterpillars begin noshing an array of native plants. (They often need different plants as caterpillars vs. butterflies.)

• Pupa: The caterpillars are done growing and create a chrysalis. During a number of weeks inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar becomes goo, and the genetic material is reorganized to form a butterfly.

• Adult: Butterflies emerge around mid-June. They will need an array of flowering plants and trees for nectar. This varies by species, but they all need CLOVER and other wildflowers like wild violets. Great reasons to reimagine your lawn as a living ecosystem.

Some butterflies in our region have two lifecycles: One in the spring and one later in the summer.

Black Swallowtail

Grey Hairstreak, Copyright Dayton Insects

Most butterflies need an array of plants throughout the life cycle but some have only one host species, like the Karner Blue or the Monarch. (The Karner Blue can’t survive without blue lupine. The Monarch can’t survive without milkweed.)

Cool Facts

• There are 17 times more insects than humans.

• There are about 140 butterfly species in Ohio.

• 8 species are federally endangered.

• Populations are declining by about 2.5% per year in Ohio. (This is serious.)

• More than 40% of ALL insects are in decline.

The insect extinction rate is 8 times faster than that of mammals, birds, and reptiles. Why?

When insects like butterflies and native bees are not doing well, it is an indicator of ecosystem health. Here are 3 threats to butterflies. (These are the same for native bees.)

1. Habitat and biodiversity loss. More than 90% of all prairies and grasslands have been destroyed since colonization, and with them, more than 2/3 of ALL wildlife. (Our Planet, 2019).

2. Pesticide use. Last year, more than 1 Billion pounds of pesticides were used in the U.S. (Whole Foods, 2023). Of that, about 60 million pounds were used in homes and gardens (Xerces Society, 2023).

3. Climate warming. They simply can’t adapt quickly enough to rapid warming and extreme weather events.

Monarch Butterfly

How Can We Help?

1. Plant native plants and restore clover and wildflowers to lawns and gardens. We can over-seed our lawns with native clover and low-growing wildflowers to create living ecosystems to support gentle native bees and butterflies. Instead of herbicides, try a natural PH balancer like limestone along with a natural soil conditioner. This creates healthier lawns, more wildflowers, and natural dandelion control.

2. Say no to pesticides. They kill everything! Foster natural predation and use natural deterrents instead. (Just think about how many caterpillars and insects birds and bats need to survive.)

3. Plant native trees. Biologists say to plant at least 1 tree per year. (I’ve planted 9 trees in 3 years.) Trees cool the air, create fresh rain, provide homes for countless life forms, absorb carbon dioxide, generate oxygen, sequester carbon, prevent soil erosion, and they are SO BEAUTIFUL. If you are unable to plant, make a donation and we’ll do it for you!

What About Pollination?

Butterflies are accidental pollinators.

Unlike native bees, butterflies don’t have specialized physical features for pollination. While feeding on nectar, butterflies pick up pollen on their legs or bodies and transfer it from flower to flower. Their very existence and sheer numbers aid in pollination.

Things to Remember

• Butterflies need a variety of diverse plants throughout their life cycle including clover and wildflowers.

• Native clover, plants, and trees play a vital role in insect, ecosystem, and climate health.

• When we restore habitat, eliminate pesticides, and plant trees, we are making a huge difference for butterflies, bees, birds, other wildlife, and HUMANS.

Take Hopeful Action

Guide: Backyards for Butterflies. ODNR.

MAKE A DONATION. Your gift is 2X matched until we meet our annual goal.

Get FREE GUIDES for native plants, trees, nurseries, and eco-friendly lawns. Download our Coloring Page or Citizen Science apps.

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References

Green Nature (n.d.) Ohio Butterflies.

American Resiliency. (2022). Ohio 2050 forecast. https://www.americanresiliency.org/learn-with-us/ohio-2050-forecast

Our Planet. (2019). Our Planet: A Netflix original documentary series. https://www.ourplanet.com/en/

Center for Biological Diversity. (2017). Landmark report: Hundreds of native bees sliding towards extinction. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/bees-03-01-2017.php   

Live Science. (2021). American bumble bee could be declared federally endangered.  https://www.livescience.com/american-bumblebee-endangered

Mother Jones. (2023). The Wolverine and the waitlist.  https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/12/wolverine-endangered-species-waitlist-extinction-backlog-bureaucracy-politics/ 

Whole Foods. (2023). The senator versus the pesticide industry. https://www.wholefoodsmagazine.com/articles/16045-the-senator-versus-the-pesticide-industry

Xerces Society. (n.d.). Wild bee conservation. https://www.xerces.org/endangered-species/wild-bees

Xerces Society. (n.d.). Leave the leaves: Winter habitat protection. https://xerces.org/leave-the-leaves