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Essays on Invertebrate Conservation WINGS ESSAYS ON INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION THE XERCES SOCIETY SPRING 2013 CONTENTS Wings continues to evolve, as we introduce three new features: a conservation spotlight, invertebrate notes, and a staff profile. Fittingly, this issue is dedicated to change, with articles on metamorphosis, citizen scientists monitoring environ- mental events, and our efforts to protect a rare butterfly in a changing landscape. Change Scott Hoffman Black Page 3. The Wonder of Metamorphosis Piotr Naskrecki The transformation from immature insect to adult may be one of the most remark- able occurrences in nature. Page 5. The Pendulum Swings: Citizen Science and Conservation Rich Hatfield Amateur naturalists have contributed much to our understanding of natural his- tory. Citizen-science projects continue that tradition. Page 11. Saving a Rare Butterfly, Step by Step Scott Hoffman Black Achieving protection for disappearing insects is seldom a quick task. Xerces has been working for a decade to save Taylor’s checkerspot. Page 16. Conservation Spotlight The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum. Page 21. Invertebrate Notes A roundup of new books and recent research. Page 23. Staff Profile Meet Mace Vaughan, the director of our pollinator conservation program. Page 25. Xerces News Updates on Xerces Society projects and successes. Page 26. 2 WINGS Change Scott Hoffman Black Alter, adjust, convert, diversify, evolve, larger staff has brought with it a broad- metamorphose, modify, revolutionize, er range of knowledge and expertise, switch, transform. All of these words are which in turn has allowed us to work synonyms for “change,” to which this more effectively to protect endangered issue of Wings is dedicated. Of course, species, provide habitat for pollinators, change is all around us. Our seasons and conserve aquatic invertebrates. change with regularity, our kids change With our growing staff, Xerces has as they grow, and all of us change con- been able to renew our commitment siderably as we get older. There are pro- to the protection of monarch butterfly found changes in store for our entire overwintering sites in California—in- planet as the climate becomes warmer cluding the annual Thanksgiving mon- over the coming years. arch count, a citizen-science project that Organizations experience change monitors the numbers of butterflies at as well. In a little more than a decade, these sites—and to launch Project Milk- Xerces has grown from a handful of em- weed, through which we encourage the ployees to a staff of twenty-five working planting of milkweed across the mon- across the United States. This growth archs’ breeding areas in both the eastern has enabled us to establish offices in five and western United States. states, which greatly expands our capac- Over the last couple of years our ity to collaborate closely with conserva- citizen-science activities have expanded tion partners across the continent. Our to embrace other, very different groups No animals symbolize change as much as butterflies, with their dramatic transformation from crawling caterpillars to flying adults. Pipevine swal- lowtail (Battus philenor), photographed by Bryan E. Reynolds. SPRING 2013 3 of insects: dragonflies and bumble bees. to help you be better informed and en- Xerces is a founding member of the gaged. Each issue will contain a longer Migratory Dragonfly Partnership, which feature article and two shorter essays. is working with citizens in Mexico, the The magazine will include more content United States, and Canada to better un- directly relating to our work as an orga- derstand dragonfly migration across nization, a spotlight feature describing North America. The MDP is collecting the work of one of our partners who information through the Pond Watch are making a difference in invertebrate and Migration Monitoring projects. conservation, and a brief profile of one We have also started an initiative of our staff members. We hope you will that gathers information about bumble enjoy the new shape of the magazine. bees, with a focus on imperiled species. We also hope that you will let us know This has already yielded great results in what you think of the changes. allowing us to better understand the To kick off this transition we are conservation status of these bees. Over honored that Piotr Naskrecki (author of the course of the coming months, we several essays for Wings over the past few will work with partners to expand this years) has penned the feature article, successful program significantly, broad- an evocative essay on metamorphosis ening its focus to collect sightings of all accompanied by his stunning photo- of North America’s bumble bee species. graphs. The other two articles focus on In addition, the Society has dra- work undertaken by the Xerces Society. matically increased the range of our pol- The first describes the expansion of our linator conservation program. Over the citizen-science projects for bumble bees last five years Xerces has presented more and migratory dragonflies. The second than a thousand Pollinator Conserva- details our decade-long effort to protect tion Short Courses, field days, farm con- the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly. ferences, workshops, and other events, Our inaugural “Conservation Spot- reaching more than twenty thousand light” provides an overview of the work farmers and other agricultural profes- being done by the arboretum of the sionals. Tens of thousands more people University of Wisconsin–Madison to have been addressed through our publi- protect and promote bumble bees, while cations—including Attracting Native Pol- our first “Staff Profile” introduces you linators—and our web-based Pollinator to senior staff member Mace Vaughan, Conservation Resources Center. Xerces’ director of our pollinator conservation work with farmers and the USDA Natu- program. We are also introducing an ral Resources Conservation Service has “Invertebrate Notes” section, highlight- led to more than 120,000 acres of habitat ing recently published books, new and improvements for pollinators. interesting web sites, and noteworthy re- In keeping with the changing times, search from the last several months. The Wings is also undergoing a process of issue is rounded off with “Xerces News,” evolution. Our goal is to keep the best of our regular presentation of updates on the current Wings—the same small for- the Society’s programs and activities. mat, handsome imagery, and high-qual- All of us here at Xerces hope you ity writing—while adding new content enjoy the new and improved Wings! WINGS The Wonder of Metamorphosis Piotr Naskrecki It is almost one in the morning and here I am, still waiting with my eye glued to the viewfinder of the camera. In front of the lens the female nymph of a pray- ing mantis hangs upside down from a branch, about to undergo a remarkable transformation. Soon she will leave her juvenile exoskeleton and emerge as a fully fledged adult, ready to embark on the final phase of her life. At last the mantis arches her back and an almost imperceptible fracture appears just be- hind her head, along the back of her long, neck-like pronotum. Her head emerges from the exoskeleton, followed slowly by her pronotum and the rest of her thorax, which now carries two pairs of small and shriveled wings. Gentle, rhythmic, peristaltic move- ments of her musculature push her new, adult body, millimeter by millimeter, out of the old, dead, chitinous ghost of her former self. Her enormous prey- grasping, raptorial front legs and long Hanging motionless from its old exoskel- antennae slide out first, followed by the eton, a mantis may take an hour to harden second and third pairs of her spindly before it can move. African praying man- walking legs. Now all that holds her at- tis (Sphodromantis lineola), photographed tached to the empty exoskeleton is the by Piotr Naskrecki. very tip of her abdomen. She pauses and will remain like this, hanging motion- hardening fast), she would certainly less, for about an hour. During this time end up disfigured, with her appendages the cuticle of her new exoskeleton will twisted and unusable. harden enough to allow her to move her At last, in one quick upswing mo- legs and climb the branch she is hang- tion, the mantis grabs the branch above ing from to complete the expansion of her head and breaks the last connection her newly acquired wings. If she were with her old exoskeleton. She now hangs to fall off now, with her new skeleton from the branch by her front and middle still soft and malleable (though already legs, and those crumpled wings begin SPRING 2013 A larva of the Dracula ant (genus Amblyopone) looks nothing like its adult sister. Photographed in Papua New Guinea by Piotr Naskrecki. to expand rapidly. With air and hemo- I have been fascinated with insects lymph (blood) pumping into their tra- my entire life, and have watched similar cheal frame, her wings appear to grow, scenes unfold countless times, but I am turning into long, white veils that will yet to tire of this miraculous spectacle. eventually fold neatly onto her back. There is nothing in human biology and With this accomplished, the most dra- behavior that compares to the process of matic event of this mantis’s life is over. arthropod molting and metamorphosis, As she sits next to her empty nymphal nothing that will allow us to relate to the “skin” (the “exuvia,” in entomological dramatic transition from one stage of parlance) it is hard to believe that this development into another—and often large, winged insect was once trapped remarkably different—stage. Our birth, inside. Looking closely at the structure as dramatic an event as it is, merely rep- of her body I can see not only her huge resents a moment of emergence as a fully new wings, but also three small, lens- formed individual following a period of like structures on her head; these are steady gestation in the womb, with vir- the “ocelli,” simple eyes that will help tually all organs and senses already in her orient herself while flying.
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