Populations of at-risk butterfly species are declining at an alarming rate. Conservation strategies emphasize a mix of restoration of butterfly habitat, captive propagation, and reintroduction of butterflies to repopulate sites at which populations have gone extinct and to augment declining populations. We review the use of these strategies to conserve butterflies for 25 British species with Species Action Plans and 25 American species listed as Endangered, Threatened, or Candidate under the US Endangered Species Act and found in the continental US. Based on a broad review of published and unpublished literature and 47 interviews with agency staff, we find that the majority of species require active restoration (n = 47 of 50) and that most species receive restoration enhancements (n = 45), but only for a few species are ecological responses to this management monitored (n = 15). In addition, we find that most conservation strategies recommend reintroduction (n = 34) and it has been attempted for 21 Britis...

Restoration, Reintroduction, and captive Propagation for at-risk Butterflies: A review of British and American Conservation Efforts

Can captive rearing promote recovery of endangered butterflies? An assessment in the face of uncertainty

Microreserves may be useful in protecting native arthropod diversity in urbanized landscapes However, species that do not disperse through the urban matrix may eventually be lost from these fragments Population extinctions may be precipitated by an increase in genetic differentiation among fragments and loss of genetic diversity within fragments, and these effects should become stronger with time We analyzed population genetic structure in the dispersal limited Jerusalem cricket Stenopelmatus n sp “santa monica” in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills north of Los Angeles, California (CA), to determine the impacts of fragmentation over the past 70 years MtDNA divergence was greater among urban fragments than within contiguous habitat and was positively correlated with fragment age MtDNA genetic diversity within fragments increased with fragment size and decreased with fragment age Genetic divergence across 38 anonymous nuclear Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) loci was influenced by the presence of major highways and highway age, but there was no effect of additional urban fragmentation ISSR diversity was not correlated with fragment size or age Differing results between markers may be due to male-biased dispersal, or different effective population sizes, sorting rates, or mutation rates among sampled genes Results suggest that genetic connectivity among populations has been disrupted by highways and urban development, prior to declines in local population sizes We emphasize that genetic connectivity can rapidly erode in fragmented landscapes and that flightless arthropods can serve as sensitive indicators for these effects

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Loss of genetic connectivity and diversity in urban microreserves in a southern California endemic Jerusalem cricket (Orthoptera: Stenopelmatidae: Stenopelmatus n. sp. “santa monica”)

Many of the well-known and intuitive practices from conservation of large mammals do not apply to butterflies. The different body size, lifespan, reproductive potential, and habitat associations of butterflies produce a different series of guidelines for conservation that may conflict with commonly held attitudes and approaches from conservation of larger species. Using a series of case studies from the federally listed butterflies in California, we present a series of lessons for butterfly conservation that emphasizes the different approaches that butterfly conservation requires. These include: that habitats found surrounded by cities are important; that connectivity between habitats may not require a corridor or can be provided by human intervention; that disturbance, including removal of native plants, may be essential to maintain butterfly food plants; that a remote risk of incidental take of early stages of butterflies is often worth taking in the interest of habitat management; that current distributions of taxa may not be their best habitat historically; and that microclimatic and microtopographic variation is important at scales humans rarely consider.

Butterflies Are Not Grizzly Bears: Lepidoptera Conservation in Practice

13 Introduction 14 Methods and Materials 17 Results 20 Discussion 21 Tables and Figures 29 Chapter 2 Captive Rearing and Mortality Analysis of Cicindela nevadica lincolniana Abstract 35 Introduction 36 Methods and Materials 41 Results 44 Discussion 46 Tables and Figures 5835 Introduction 36 Methods and Materials 41 Results 44 Discussion 46 Tables and Figures 58 Chapter 3 Behavioral niche partitioning in a sympatric tiger beetle assemblage Abstract 62 Introduction 63 Methods and Materials 67 Results 6962 Introduction 63 Methods and Materials 67 Results 69 Discussion 71 Tables and Figures 75 Chapter 4 Using the visual arts to promote the conservation of the Salt Creek tiger beetle Abstract 89 Introduction 9089 Introduction 90 Methods and Materials 95 Results and Discussion 97 Tables and Figures 103 Summary and Conclusions 109 Literature Cited 112

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Niche Specialization and Conservation Biology of Cicindela nevadica lincolniana

Mass rearing of the endangered lycaenid Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis (Palos Verdes blue butterfly) is described Numerous problems were encountered in our attempts to predictably produce a large stock population both as insurance against extinction and for re-introduction to sites where the species has been extirpated We describe our approaches to mass rearing with discussion of all aspects of life history, difficulties with parasitoids and predators, cage design, and artificial diet use Both cylindrical cages placed over individual potted plants and outdoor tent cages were successful in providing conditions where captive individuals would mate without intervention, transcending previous limits posed by hand pairing From a small initial stock, we produced between 168 and 968 pupae each season Highest losses were experienced in first instar, with later losses from microsporidian infection Predation during pupation was also significant in semi-natural confined conditions The effort has been in progress for eight years and is continuing

Zdenka Krenova

Papers

Mass rearing the endangered Palos Verdes blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis: Lycaenidae)