Question Mark Butterfly

Question Mark PIONEER LEPIDOPTERISTS The Butterflies of Massachusetts 49 Question Mark Polygonia interrogationis (Fabricius, 1798) The woodland origins of the lovely Question Mark and the can be seen in their trunk perching behavior, their liking for sap flows rather than flowers, and their choice of hibernation sites in bark crevices and wood piles. Although the Question Mark’s traditional habitat is deciduous woodland openings and edges, it was adaptable enough to thrive despite the period of forest loss in Massachusetts.

Biochemistry For Health Professionals Pdf File. Question Mark Butterfly Facts Importantly, the Question Mark Butterfly remains one of the lesser known Lepidoptera in its endemic range. Yet its distinct.

Its numbers were no doubt augmented each spring with arrivals from further south, for this is a strongly migratory butterfly. Some Question Marks apparently over-winter in Massachusetts, but many make a return journey southward in the fall. Photo: Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge, Harvard, MA, T. Murray, June 20, 2004 History Thaddeus W. Harris in his manuscripts called Question Mark “a very common species” around Boston in the mid-1800’s.

In his personal collection from the area, he had specimens dated 1820, 1821, 1827, 1828, 1834, 1836 and 1839; the earliest was May 1, 1828 and the latest was October 10, 1936 in Cambridge (Harris, Index 1822-50). He referred to it as the Semicolon Butterfly, but Scudder and others preferred the more poetic Violet-Tip. Hops were widely grown for beer-making in the 19th century, and Harris considered the Question Mark common enough and destructive enough on hops to warrant including it in his 1841 book as an “injurious insect.” He writes “The caterpillars live on the American elm and lime trees, and also on the hop-vine, and on the latter they sometimes abound to such a degree as totally to destroy the produce of the plant. In the latter part of August the hop-vine caterpillars come to their full growth, and suspend themselves beneath the leaves and stems of the plant, and change to chrysalids. This fact affords a favorable opportunity for destroying the insects in this their stationary and helpless stage.” (1841: 220). But in 1889 Scudder characterized Question Mark as “rather uncommon about Boston, at least of late years,” although he noted that 1887 had been a particularly abundant year.

He emphasized that the species' numbers fluctuated greatly from year to year, and therefore the species couldn't be quite as destructive every year as Harris had suggested (1889: 326-7). Still, avid collector F. Sprague had no trouble finding specimens around the state. In 1878 Sprague observed Question Mark as early as April 20 in Wollaston (now Quincy, Boston), and collected specimens in Wollaston on September 3, 1878 (light winter form), June 1, 1896 (dark summer form 'umbrosa'), July 31, 1895, and August 8, 1894 (Harvard MCZ). Sprague also found specimens in Belchertown in 1878, as well as 12 larvae on hops in Belchertown on August 26, 1878. Larvae had also been found in Wollaston in August and September 1877 (Sprague 1879). Overall, the numbers of Question Marks in Sprague's collection are not as great as the numbers of Eastern Commas.

Question Mark was collected in many locations around eastern Massachusetts in the early 20th century, including Tyngsboro (8/24/1919, MCZ); Melrose 1921 and North Weymouth 1936 (Yale Peabody); Stoneham (8/1/1926, C. Blackburn, Furman U.); and Marblehead, Lynn, North Andover, Clifton (Saugus), Malden, Cambridge and Hanover (Farquhar 1934). Between 1940 and 1980 it was collected in Concord (1955, C. Oliver, Yale); West Acton (7/28/1962, C. Oliver, Yale); Harvard (1957, C. Oliver, Yale); Woods Hole (7/29/1973, L.

Gall, Yale); Wareham (8/1978, Yale); Sturbridge (9/27/1978, L. Gall, Yale); and in particular Martha's Vineyard (July 9, 1948, and other dates, F. Jones, Yale). In the western part of the state, in addition to Belchertown (1, 9/1878, Sprague, MCZ), there are specimens from Amherst (1 June 1896, G. Blay, Yale), Longmeadow (7/15/1977, D.

Bowers, MCZ), and Heath (Franklin Co.) (6/1981, S. Host Plants and Habitat The Question Mark has several hosts, including elms ( Ulmus), nettles ( Urtica spp.), False Nettle ( Boehmeria cylindrica), hackberry ( Celtis), and hops ( Humulus lupulus). The closely related Elms and Hackberries are native to all areas of the state except the Cape and Islands, though elms were much more common prior to the 20 th century. Both trees, plus the native false nettle, were likely the main hosts for Question Mark before the arrival of European settlers.

Question Mark today still uses elm for the most part in the state, because even though the trees do not mature due to Dutch elm disease, saplings are the choice for the butterfly’s needs. Re-growing small trees are its main hosts.

Photographer Sam Jaffe found Question Mark caterpillars on young American elm in both June and August 2009 and 2010 at Great Meadows NWR in Concord, Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, Great Blue Hill in Canton, the Charles River floodplain in Medfield, and in Wellfleet (Jaffe 2009, 2010.) Elms were typically “knee-high to waist-high.” Question Mark is among those butterflies which have successfully adopted introduced and non-native plants, an adaptive trait which has contributed to its survival (). It uses the introduced and now widespread Stinging Nettle ( Urtica dioica); in the author’s yard it lays eggs on this plant (e.g.

8/16/2006) and is easily raised to maturity on it. It also quickly adopted hops ( Humulus lupulus), a plant which although widespread today is not native to any county in Massachusetts (except for one rare variety: Dow Cullina et al. 2011), but likely was introduced from further south for beer production, and spread into the wild. Question Mark eggs have even been reported and photographed on the widespread invasive Oriental bittersweet ( Celastrus orbiculata).

A 6/11/2010 photo showing Question Mark eggs on this plant at Appleton Farms, Ipswich, can be seen. (Plant identification by R. Hopping, who was present.) Question Mark did not decline as much as some other species during the forest clearing of the 17 th, 18 th and 19 th centuries (), precisely because of the spread of nettles, the cultivation of hops, and the retention of elms and hackberries as yard and street trees. The butterfly also made use of the many orchards for rotting fruit, and used any early successional forest areas with elms.

These factors also assured its survival through the periods of industrial and urban/suburban development. Hops ( Humulus lupulus) is a widely distributed vine of temperate forest openings. Some botanists list it as introduced from Europe, but it is reported as native in Virginia in 1705 (Leighton 1976: 27), and may have been brought north for cultivation. Today, it has a wide North American as well as Old World distribution, and grows wild in glades and edges in all Massachusetts counties except Suffolk, probably having spread from cultivation (Gleason and Cronquist 1991:73; Magee and Ahles 1999: 421). The growing of hops for beer-making began in colonial times, and probably greatly increased the abundance of the hops vine, and of its three associated butterflies: the Question Mark, the Eastern Comma, and the Gray Hairstreak.

Girl Tech Styling Studio Software Download Deutsch here. Historian Howard Russell writes that in 1702 there were “well-known hop-yards at Woburn, Massachusetts,” and that hop growing must have reached some magnitude before 1775, for shipping records show 3,000 lbs being shipped to New York in 1763. By 1806 the state had set strict quality standards for this crop, and required inspections. Several towns in northern Middlesex County, especially Tewksbury and North Reading, were centers of production, and Northfield, in the Connecticut River valley, also produced a lot.

Hops were shipped to destinations around the United States and Europe. Most was probably exported, since New Englanders generally preferred cider to beer in those early days.

Hops were dried in kilns over pine and oak charcoal fires. The crop was grown here until about the time of the Civil War. In 1840, Massachusetts still produced about one-fifth of the nation’s crop (Russell, 1982: 165-66, 226). Two favorite nectar sources for Question Marks actually increased during the agricultural period – sap and rotting fruit.

Scudder tells us they were fond of “sap which flows from wounded trees” and “juices of decaying fruits” (1889:327). Both Question Marks and Eastern Commas benefited from sap flows during the widespread timber cutting and from the fermenting fruits in orchards, just as they do today. Early naturalists delighted in this interesting behavior: “A number of these butterflies will gather on a rotting apple and take their tipple, becoming so absorbed in the treat that they are oblivious to danger and can be lifted between thumb and finger.

Until they have reached this state, however, they resent any interference with their pleasure by flying at and about you with rapid zigzag movements” (Robertson-Miller 1912: 179-80). Autumn “tippling” and the use of early spring sap flows are both adaptive behaviors needed by a species which hibernates as an adult over the winter, and then breaks diapause in early spring when nectar sources may be limited. Some portion of the Question Mark population over-winters here as an adult, but some portion also migrates southward, often along the coast. Then in spring, new individuals arrive back from the south to augment the local population. Relative Abundance Today MBC and Atlas records both rank the Question Mark as Uncommon today, relative to such common species as the American Copper or the American Lady (). Today, the Question Mark is reported a bit less frequently than the Eastern Comma, which is ranked Uncommon-to-Common (Table 5).

Chart 49: MBC Sightings per Total Trip Reports, 1992-2009 Question Mark shows a decline in the numbers seen between 2001 and 2009 (Chart 49). Question Mark also exhibits strong fluctuations in its yearly sighting pattern, probably due mainly to variations in the annual influx from areas to the south. Does not show this kind of fluctuation, but rather an upward trend over this time period. A separate list-length analysis of MBC data also found a statistically significant 48.9% decline for Question Mark between 1992 and 2010 (Breed et al. 2012), in contrast to a 104.4% increase for Eastern Comma. Statistics published in the MBC Massachusetts Butterflies season summaries similarly show a bit of decline: the average number of Question Marks seen on a trip was down 43% in 2008, 35% in 2009, and 28% in 2010, compared to the average for preceding years back to 1994 (Nielsen 2009, 2010, 2011).

In contrast, Eastern Comma shows a percentage increase in 2009 and 2010. For Question Mark, population levels may be determined by winter conditions in areas to the south, as well as in Massachusetts, but severe winters here can also reduce survival rates. 2001 was an especially good year for Question Marks; large numbers were found on many of the NABA counts around the state: for example, 51 on the Martha’s Vineyard Count, 25 on Central Franklin and Northampton, and 14 on Northern Essex.

In other years, the numbers for these and all counts usually run in the single digits. 1998 also shows an especially large number of sightings, but this is almost solely due to an apparently large coastal migration: 198 were reported on 9/12/1998 at Westport Gooseberry Neck, B.

Cassie, and 25 at Gosnold Penikese Island, J. Apart from the migration, it seemed a normal year inland. 1994 was another big year for Question Marks, mainly in western Massachusetts: 28 on the Central Franklin NABA count on 7/9/1994, 10 on the Southern Berkshire, and 9 in Northern Berkshire, and good numbers were also reported from the Boston area, Medford and Newbury.

Finally, 2007 was also a decent year, with 25 reported on the Northampton Count, 10 on the Central Franklin, and 9 on the Northern Essex. After a downward trend since 2001, 2012 turned out to be an enormous year for Question Mark sightings, due mostly to a large influx from further south. For instance on 4/17/2012, 15 Question Marks arrived suddenly at Wellfleet Bay WS, where none had been seen the day before (M. Faherty), and on 4/21/2012, 25 dark summer form migrants had arrived at Pilgrim Heights in Truro on Cape Cod (B.

Nikula et al.). In May, 49 were counted at coastal World's End Hingham on 5/12/2012 by B. Larger numbers than normal were found on most of the midsummer NABA Counts. But the influx seemed to taper off by the end of 2012, and no large numbers of returning migrants were reported at the usual coastal migration traps. The following year, 2013, numbers seen were very low. State Distribution and Locations From 1991 through 2009, MBC and BOM had records of Question Mark from 146 out of a possible 351 towns (Map 49).

The years 2010 through 2013 added 25 more towns, for a total of 171. This species is well-distributed across the state, inhabiting all major regions, from the Berkshires to Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket (Map 49). The 1986-90 Atlas map shows a similar picture, although at that time there were no records from Martha’s Vineyard or from many towns in southeastern Massachusetts.

Map 49: BOM-MBC Sightings by Town, 1991-2009 Historically, both Question Mark and have been present on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, but Question Mark is the more usual species on the islands. Question Mark was reported to be 'resident but never abundant' on the Vineyard in the 1940's; one of its host plants was hops vines (Jones and Kimball 1943; specimens at Yale). There are six Vineyard specimens from April through August 1948, by F. Jones, in the Yale Peabody Museum. The current Vineyard checklist ranks Question Mark as Uncommon, and Eastern Comma as Rare (Pelikan 2002). On Nantucket Question Mark was recorded as 'occasional' in the 1940's; one of its host plants was Chinese Elm (Jones and Kimball 1943). Early specimens can be found in the Maria Mitchell Museum.

The 1986-90 Atlas recorded an impressive total of 10 at elms along Main Street, 8/11/1988, and MBC has Nantucket records from July 1995 and October 2006 (Tuckernuck, S. Today, Question Mark is thought of as a breeding resident, unlike the Eastern Comma, which is an uncommon stray (LoPresti 2011). Question Mark has also been found on other islands, such as Nashawena and Penikese, as Atlas records indicate.

Mello and Hansen (2004) list many good locations for Question Mark on Cape Cod, and species is common there, unlike the Eastern Comma. Question Mark has been found on all of the NABA counts in one year or another.