Chlosyne lacinia is often considered one of the most variable butterflies in the world. Why, you ask, have I become wholly obsessed with this little creature? Its geographic range and variation are what initially drew me to study this butterfly in the summer of 2005. Its phylogenetic location within the tribe Melitaeini, a group of butterflies studied by numerous lab groups including my own, also enticed me. Within this tribe it is possible to do detailed studies not often possible within other butterfly groups because basic biology is often lacking. Also, comparisons within this tribe are easily managed as phylogenetic history is controlled. See On the Wings of Checkerspots for more information on checkerspots and taxonomy.

After two summers of study I've learned quite a bit regarding general natural history. This page isn't meant to be exhaustive (for a good description of C. lacinia's life history cycle check out Stan Gorodenski's website and for more general ID information see Butterflies and Moths of North America). Rather, I hope to demonstrate the remarkable geographic variation found within the expansive range of this species. This is a work in progress. If you have any additional info or records send me an email (tcbone@stanford.edu).

Range

C. lacinia has a uniquley broad distribution in the New World ranging from the southwest U.S. (with strays into Kansas) through Central America to Argentina. I've studied the butterfly thus far in three primary locations; Indio (CA), SE Arizona, and Guanacaste (Costa Rica).

Host plants

The known larval host plants used by C. lacinia all lie within the plant family Compisitae and within the tribe Heliantheae (see Neck 1973). However, while the butterfly is somewhat taxonimically a specialist it does feed a several plants within that taxonomic range. In CA I've found Helianthus annuus (left) covered in C. lacinia larvae while the Arizona populations I've studied seem to prefer Verbesina encelloides (right) and in Costa Rica the main host plant is Verbesina gigantea (center).

Juvenile Stages

Eggs are laid in clusters of up to nearly 400 eggs with a median of about 170 (See Clark and Faeth 1998). Larvae are nearly as variable as the adults and range from black to red with intermediates often called bicolor (See Gorodenski 1969 and Neck et al. 1971).

Adult Variation

C. lacinia gets its reputation from the wide variety of adult forms which have a number of subspecific names. However, there is no consistent geographic pattern to the subspecific designation and any given population can have any of the subspecific forms. In the interest of simplicity I will disregard the subspecific designation. Notice the variety of adult forms in one Arizona population:

Some have orange bands on the forewing and hindwing, some have white bands, some have some combination of bands on the forewing and hindwing, and some barely have bands at all. Compare to butterflies from the Costa Rican population:

While distinct from the Arizona population the amount of variation also seems sizable in Costa Rica (notice the orange band in the center butterfly).

Predation

In Arizona I encountered two captured C. lacinia adults, hanging at a flower's edge in the arms of a spider. In this particular population it seemed to be a common event as the flowers were seemingly filled with eagerly awaiting spiders.

Conservation

Chlosyne lacinia is a very widespread species and not seemingly in danger of extinction. So why put so much effort into studying it? Well, because there are so many of them there is a lot I can do and I can run many experiments (with decent sample sizes!). Another butterfly I have researched is Euphydryas editha bayensis which IS very much endanger of extinction (and has become locally extinct at Jasper Ridge, the original site of its study). There is very little that I can do or would want to do to study E. editha directly as anything too invasive could endanger the population.

The hope is that by having a better understanding of widespread butterflies like C. lacinia we might better be able to manage populations of endangered butterflies like E. editha. Another motivating factor in my research is a rather glaring scarcity of studies done on tropical butterflies despite the vast majority of butterflies living in the tropics! My research goal is to study the population dynamics and evolutionary ecology of C. lacinia in the U.S. and in the tropics to better our understanding of the biology necessary to effectively conserve butterfly populations worldwide for generations to come. [Pictured below is a Costa Rican Chlosyne lacinia (left) and Euphydryas editha bayensis (right)]

References

Clark, B.R., and Faeth, S.H. (1998) The evolution of egg clustering in butterflies: A test of the egg dessication hypothesis.  Evolutionary Ecology, 12, 543-552

Gorodenski, S.A. (1969) The genetics of three larval polymorphic larval color forms of Chlosyne lacinia (Nymphalidae). Genetical Research, 14, 333-336

Neck, R.W. (1973) Food plant ecology of the butterfly Chlosyne lacinia (Nymphalidae) I. Larval Food Plants. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society, 27, 22-33

Neck, R.W., Bush, G.L, and Drummond, B.A. (1971) Epistasis, associated lethals and brood effect in larval color polymorphism of patch butterfly, Chlosyne lacinia. Heredity, 26, 73-84