Southern Skipperling

The Southern Skipperling (Copaeodes minima) is the tiniest of our North American Skippers. This little butterfly measures just a scant 1.6 - 2.2 cm in wingspan.

I found this diminutive butterfly darting between wild flowers blooming in an area of recently mowed grasses. The tiny size of this skipper is very difficult to convey with a photograph as I had nothing to show for scale.

The Southern Skipperling hosts on Bermuda Grass (Cynodon dactylon) and the adults are most often found in open grassy areas. This tiny species can be found from Florida north to North Carolina and wst through the Gulf states and into Texas. The species is also reported from Mexico south to Panama.

The genus Copaeodes contains six species of butterflies that are found in southern North America and in portions of Central and South America. The Southern Skipperling is our only Florida resident of the genus.

The Danaus: A less than tasty genus of butterflies

The Danaus genus of butterflies contains twelve species of butterflies that consume milkweeds as caterpillars. Species from this genus are found in around the world including North America, South America, Australia, Africa, Indonesia and Asia. These larvae are uniquely able to digest the toxic milk saps of the milkweed plant. This sap makes the caterpillar and butterfly distasteful to predators.

Danaides are members of the Nymphalidae or brush-foot family of butterflies. The adult butterflies only appear to have 4 legs. The last 2 insect legs are very small and are located near the head of the butterfly.

There are three species of Danaus butterflies found locally in the Tampa Bay area. The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterfly is the most common of the trio and is most likely to be seen sipping nectar in your butterfly garden. The less common Queen (Danaus gilippus) butterfly appears a bit darker in color than the Monarch and lacks black stripes on the upper wings. The Soldier (Danaus eresimus) butterfly looks very much like a monarch with a light colored watermark on the lower wing. They are a sometime stray through this area and southern Texas but are more often sighted in South America.

By looking like each other these butterflies reinforce their toxicity to predators. A predator that has eaten a distasteful Monarch is less likely to try a peck of a Queen or a Soldier. These three species are clever mimics utilizing Mullarian mimicry to reinforce the warning colors and distasteful qualities of several related species, gaining all three species more protection from predators.

Local Mimic: The Viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus) mimics the common Danaid butterflies and is able to gain protection by looking like them. Predators who have tried to eat a toxic Monarch or Queen are less likely to tangle with a butterfly that looks a lot like them. Viceroys are also bad tasting because they eat willow and are able to sequester the Salicylic acid from the leaves of the plants. This chemical makes the caterpillars and butterflies very bitter to taste and likely to upset the stomachs of predators.

Danaus and the Danaides: In Greek mythology, Danaus or Danaos (Greek for “sleeper”) was the twin brother of Aegyptos, the mythical king of Egypt. Aegyptos had 50 sons and commanded that they marry the 50 daughters of Danaus. Danaus and his daughters, known as the Danaides, fled to Argos and were pursued by the sons of Aegyptos. Forced into marriage to protect Argos from the aggression of the sons of Aegyptos, all but one of the Danaides murdered their new husbands on their wedding night at the instruction of their father. The story of Danaus and his daughters is the subject of a play by Aeschylus entitled The Suppliant Maidens.

The Origin of the Butterfly

Butterflies don’t make great fossils. They are terribly delicate creatures who aren’t prone to spending much time around lakes and ponds which are the places where the best fossils are preserved. Caterpillars are similarly difficult to fossilize because only their heads have enough hard matter to become a fossil. Because of this it is somewhat tricky to look back to the origin of the butterfly with only about 50 butterfly fossils currently known to science. Let’s look at what has been found and what has been theorized:

300-200 Million Years- Diverging Paths: Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) and Trichoptera (Caddisflies) are sister members of the insect superorder Amphiesmenoptera. They share common traits such as wing vein patterns, wings covered in setae (scales for moths and butterflies) and larva that can produce silk.

This superorder likely diverged from an insect taxon Necrotaulidae during the Jurassic . The Necrotaulidae diverged from the insect order Mecoptera (Scorpionflies) somewhere between the Permian and the Triassic and were extinct by the Cretaceous. [Image Necrotaulius parvulus (Geinitz, 1884)]

200-190 Million Years- Archaeolepis mane: The oldest known Lepidopteran fossil is a primitive moth that dates to the Lower Jurassic period about 190 million years ago. This specimen has a pair of scaled wings with a pattern of veins similar to Trichoptera (caddisflies) and was found in Dorset, England. The only other known Lepidoptera fossil from the Jurassic is that of Eolepidopterix jurassica. From Russia, this two-winged fossil has scales on both of its wings.

130 Million Years- The Development of Angiosperms: The Cretaceous period was a time of warm temperatures and high sea levels that saw the rise of flowering plants (angiosperms), marine reptiles, birds and dinosaurs. Most butterflies use angiosperms as their larval host and nectar plants. The first obvious butterfly fossils come from this period and their specializations likely co-evolved with the specializations of available plant species. Some thirteen known examples of obvious butterfly fossils have been found from this time. [Image: Flower (Florissantia quilchenensis) Family Malvaceae, Photo by Photo by T.A. Dillhoff]

65 Million Years- Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event: About 65.5 million years ago there was a mass extinction of plant and animal species that occurred in a geologically short period of time. This event is also known as the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event . Fossil sites from before the event show heavy insect predation upon plants whereas fossil sites after this period show far less insect damage to plants. This event caused the extinction of most large reptiles and many species of butterfly likely became extinct at this time.

48 Million Years- Mid Eocene Epoch: The Green River Formation shale beds of Colorado have yielded 4 lepidopteran fossils from this period including 2 primitive swallowtails (Papilionids) and a primitive metalmark (Riodinid). This unusually fossil-rich area has also yielded the earliest known bat fossil and also the fossils of many insects.

40 Million Years- Prodryas persophone: This well preserved fossil butterfly was discovered near Florissant, Colorado and was the first fossil butterfly found in North America. The butterfly fossil shows the insect with wings open and head tilted to the side showing mouthparts and antenna. This species measured about an inch in wingspan and is now extinct. These fossil-rich shale beds have also yielded fossils of modern looking species from the Family Pieridae (Whites and Sulphurs), Family Libytheidae (Snout Butterflies) and Family Nymphalidae (Brush-Footed Butterflies)

24 Million Years- Early Miocene Epoch: Butterfly fossils from all of the modern families can be found worldwide from this era.

20 Million Years- Voltinia dramba: Preserved in amber, this species of Metalmark butterfly has been dated to about 20 million years in age. This butterfly was found in the Dominican Republic and is now extinct in modern times. However it does have a close living relative: Voltinia danforthi of Mexico. This living species is a sister species to the 15-25 million year old fossil and each is the closest relative to the other.

With over 1200 living Metalmark species occurring in Mexico and South America and with only one other living Metalmark species known in the islands, scientists have theorized that this butterfly species hitched a ride on the Caribbean islands as they moved away from South America. The island of Hispaniola moved away from South America some 40-50 million years ago so with the close relations of these two butterfly species we can theorize that Metalmark butterflies were extant before the separation. [Image: Royal Society]

1.6 Million Years to 10,000 Years- Pleistocene Epoch: A fossil of Hestina japonica has come down to us from this period found in Shiobara, Japan. This fossil wing matches all modern measurements of the butterfly Hestina japonica which is still found in Japan in modern times.

Today- Regent Skipper (Euschemon rafflesia): A few fossil species of butterflies are still with us today. One example is the Regent Skipper of Australia. This species has fore and hind wings that are linked by a bristle on the hindwing (frenulum) and hook on the forewing (retinaculum), a trait shared with no other butterfly species. This trait is common among moths which makes this skipper truly distinct. This connection to moths and the moth-butterflies (Hedylidae) shows that this butterfly species may have evolutionarily diverged quite early.

• There are 220,000 species of Lepidoptera.
• Of that number there are about 45,000 species of butterflies.

Read More:

• The Butterflies of North America: A Natural History and Field Guide
  • Author: James A. Scott
• Florissant butterflies: a guide to the fossil and present-day species of Central Colorado
  • Authors: Thomas C. Emmel, Marc C. Minno, Boyce A. Drummond
• Entomology
  • Author: Cedric Gillott
• Molecular Biology and Genetics of the Lepidoptera
• Author: Marian R. Goldsmith, František Marec
• Butterflies: ecology and evolution taking flight
• Authors: Carol L. Boggs, Ward B. Watt, Paul R. Ehrlich

Botanical Explorers of Florida

So many people contributed to the exploration of Florida but names like Juan Ponce de Leon, Pánfilo de Narváez and Hernando de Soto tend to take center stage. They searched for incredible dreams like a Fountain of Youth, riches in gold and passage to China often meeting with hostility from native peoples and fighting against the wilds of Florida.

Although they helped to blaze trails into the depths of Florida, their expeditions were not there to record the plants and wildlife with which they came into contact. That work would be done by the explorer biologists and scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries who journeyed deep into the heart of Florida and recorded their findings with journals and sketches.

These explorers often encountered difficult conditions, harsh weather and nearly impassible landscapes but still they came and they learned. Aside from the relatively well known Bartrams, here are a few of the other explorer botanists who helped the world to know the bounty of Florida. Where available I have included links to the writings of these explorers so that you can see the Florida of old through their eyes.

Mark Catesby (1682 –1749) was an English naturalist and artist who published the 1743 volume Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. From 1722 to 1726 he traveled the eastern coast of North America and the West Indies collecting birds and plant specimens. His book contained numerous plates of birds and flora of the area and several of those plates show us specimens of species that are now extinct, endangered or threatened including the Carolina Parakeet and the Ivory Billed Woodpecker.

Bernard Romans (1741- 1784) was a Dutch-born American who traveled the Floridas from 1766 to 1772 and later wrote A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida published in 1775. His chart-making and botanical collection journey included an overland walk from near Tampa Bay to St. Augustine after the sinking of his ship.

André Michaux (1746 – 1802) was a French Botanist and explorer who searched portions of the North American continent for tree species that could be used to replant the depleted forests of France. He spent five days traveling the Merritt Island and Cape Canaveral areas of Florida in search of plants. While there he drew sketches and wrote about a curious plant, the big-flower paw-paw (Asimina obovata). He wrote about the plants he observed and collected in North America in a volume entitled Flora Boreali-Americana (1803). This book was republished in English under the title Botany of the Northern Parts of British America.

François André Michaux (1770-1855) was a French Botanist and son of André Michaux who traveled North America with his father in search of new plant specimens. He published the volume Histoire des chenes de l'Amerique septentrionale in 1801 that was republished in English under the title North American Sylva. This remained the standard volume on dendrology of North America for many years.

William Baldwin (1779 -1819) collected botanical specimens through Georgia and parts of Florida controlled by the Creek Nation. These specimens were contributed to Stephen Elliott’s "Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia". His letters from the period are recorded in Notices of East Florida.

Alvan Wentworth Chapman (1809 – 1899) was an American botanist who lived and explored in Georgia and in the neighboring areas of Northern Florida, later settling in Apalachicola, Florida. He published Flora of the Southern United States in 1857.

John Kunkel Small (1869-1938) was an American botanist who traveled throughout the Southeast and especially Florida in search of botanical specimens. His doctoral dissertation, Flora of the Southeastern United States long remained a definitive work on the flora of the southeast. In 1929 he published the book From Eden to Sahara--Florida's Tragedy which documented the decline of botanical resources in Florida as well as the environmental dangers of dredging and draining wetlands.

Learn more about the early history of Florida

• Footprints Across the South: Bartram's Trail Revisited by Jim Kautz
• Natural History & Early Tourism in Florida by Charlotte M. Porter
• The Two Henrys: Henry Plant and Henry Flagler and Their Railroads: Read up on Henry Flagler and Henry Plant, the railroad tycoons of Florida.

The Bartrams

Since moving here in 1997 I have been fascinated with the history of Florida: Native Americans of Florida, settlement by Europeans and their adaptations to the state, and especially the finding of new plants and animals by those settlers. The people I have found most fascinating are the explorer scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries.

These intrepid botanists trekked deep into a wild Florida. Think for a second of the most overgrown or palmetto laden park you have visited in the state and then picture the need to traverse that landscape without trails. No modern camping equipment, no bug spray and no sunscreen, just hundreds of miles of the unexplored. The idea of walking from Tampa Bay to St Augustine under such conditions sounds absurd, but it was done.

Two of the best known explorer scientists who were active in Florida were the Bartrams: A father and son team who travelled the St. Johns River upstream (south) until the water became impassable by boat.

John Bartram: (1699-1777) John Bartram was an American born self-taught botanist. Appointed Royal Botanist in 1765 as was dispatched to the new colonies of British West Florida and British East Florida that had recently been formed from lands ceded by the French and Spanish in the 1763 Treaty of Paris.

John Bartram in his late 60’s and his son William traveled Florida from 1765 to 1766 cataloging the plants they encountered. These travels were recorded in John Bartram’s Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. On his travels John Bartram noted the soil types of places he explored, the native plants that grew there, the locations of fresh water springs and possible uses for the lands he saw.

Many of the sites noted by Bartram are known to us in modern times and can still be visited. This online edition of John Bartram’s Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida gives modern names and locations for the places Bartram mentions and also provides photographs of the river the Bartrams traversed.

William Bartram: American born naturalist William Bartram (1739-1823) was the son of John Bartram and his second wife. Bartram traveled the North American Southeast as part of a survey party in the late 1770’s. He noted the species of plants and animals he observed, land features that he encountered and also described the clothing and customs of the indigenous peoples he met.

His travels and observations were published as a book entitled Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida but now often known as Bartram’s Travels. Published in 1791, the book became wildly popular in the young nation of the United States of America and later in Europe. The volume established William Bartram as a respected and influential naturalist of the North American continent and was used as a definitive guide to the flora of the Southeast.

William Bartram was the first person to collect, describe or name some 130 species of plants and animals that were unknown to science at the time. A list of the plants and animals that he was first to describe is available at the Bartram Trail website and includes the Zebra Longwing butterfly.

The Franklin Tree: The Bartrams were the first to record the existence of what has been termed America’s first rare plant: The Franklin Tree (Franklinia alatamaha). The father and son team found a singular grove of these shrubby trees along the Altamaha River in the British colony of Georgia. William Bartram returned to this spot near Fort Barrington several times to collect seeds. In all of their travels, no other pockets of this tree were ever found.

The Franklin tree was named by John Bartram after his friend Benjamin Franklin and was last reported to be seen in the wild in 1803. Considered extinct in the wild, the Franklin Tree survives only in cultivation and all living Franklin Trees descend from the seeds collected by the Bartrams. Franklin Trees are notoriously difficult to grow, are deciduous and produce lovely white flowers.

Here are just a few of the plants and animals named for the Bartrams:

• Bartrams Ixia (Calydorea caelestina)
• Bartram’s Airplant (Tillandsia bartramii)
• Pyramid Magnolia (Magnolia pyramidata Bartram)
• Patagonia Mountain leatherpetal (Graptopetalum bartramii)
• Bartrams Tortula Moss (Syntrichia bartramii)
• Bartramiaceae is a moss family with 386 species
• Brown Kurrajong (Commersonia bartramii)
• Mountain Serviceberry (Amelanchier bartramii)
• Bartram's rose gentian (Sabatia bartramii)
• Bartram's squid (Ommastrephes bartramii)
• Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda)
• Bartram's Scrub-Hairstreak (Strymon acis) which is a rare butterfly only found in extreme South Florida.

Bartram’s Air Plant

Bartram's Airplant (Tillandsia bartramii) is found primarily in Florida mostly in the northern part of the state but has been reported in the wild in Hillsborough County. This species is monocarpic and flowers just once before dying although it may take several years to reach a mature size and produce a flower.

Tillandsias: Tillandsias are members of the bromeliad family found in North and South America in many regions from deserts to deep forests. Tillandsias are ephiphites and do not need soil to grow. Ephiphytes are defined by Webster's Dictionary as ". . . a plant that grows upon another plant (as a tree) nonparasitically or sometimes upon some other object (as a building or a telegraph wire), derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone (as many mosses, liverworts, lichens and algae) and in the tropics (as many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads) — called also air plants."

Learn more about the 16 species and 2 natural hybrids of air plants found in Florida at this link.

What's in a name? The genus Tillandsia was named by Carolus Linnaeus after Dr. Elias Tillander (1640-1693) who was a Finnish physician and botanist who published the Catalogus Plantarum in 1673. Carolus Linneaus (1707-1778) is the father of modern binomial nomenclature or 'Latin name' which utilizes a genus and specific name or epithet to create a full scientific name for a creature. Binomial nomenclature gets us around the sticky problems of one species having many common names by providing a scientific term by which we will always know which species is being referenced.

Just a tiny thing.

This tiny line of yellow is a Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) caterpillar that has just shed its skin. Perched atop a leaf of Sicklepod Cassia (Cassia obtusifolia) I found this tiny caterpillar mostly by looking for damage to the leaves. At this stage, these caterpillars are extremely difficult to see and are easier found by searching first for holes in the leaves and second for the creators of those holes.

The tiny line of white behind the caterpillar is its shed skin, telling me that this little darling is in the second instar and therefore is much larger than when it hatched from the egg.

The larvae of Sleepy Orange (Eurema nicippe) butterflies are even more difficult to spot because those caterpillars are a pale mint green covered in tiny hairs rather than the yellow color of the Cloudless Sulphur larva. The hair on their bodies helps them to blend not just by color but also with the texture of the leaf.

Rose Glorybower

Rose Glorybower (Clerodendrum bungei) is native to India and Asia and spreads aggressively by suckering. Plant just one and you will soon have new shoots popping up all around it. To keep Rose Glorybower contained plant it either in a container or a bed bordered by grass or sidewalks to keep it from spreading.

Rose Glorybower makes a nice landscape plant blooming with huge heads of pink flowers from Spring until the first frost and growing up to six feet in height. The flowers are highly fragrant a smell a great deal like the breakfast cereal Fruit Loops. These blooms are an attractive nectar source to butterflies and other pollinating insects.

I really cannot stress enough the invasive nature of this plant. If you put it in the ground, be prepared to do battle with lots of sucker growth. If you are willing to work to keep it container, or just put it in a container of some sort then Rose Glorybower can make a great addition to your garden.

Mandevillia

I often get questions from people who have roamed the garden and have fallen in love with a particular flower. Passionvine, Aloysia, Fragrant Olive and Mandevillia are the flowers I am most commonly asked about because the flowers are either startling or deeply fragrant. Our Mandevillia his giant pink blooms and is clambering up a trellis in the garden behind the BioWorks Butterfly Garden.

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Mandevillia is a genus of South American flowering vines that contains more that 100 species. Countless hybrids have been created over the years, each with flowers more showy than the next. I have no idea which hybrid is in our garden as the plant was a gift from a friend.

These vines are fast growing and heavy flowering, making them perfect for covering an unsightly part of the yard or just training up a mailbox or lamp post. Mandevillia will die back during cold snaps and freezes, but can come back from the root as this one did after last year’s terrible winter.

Moon Garden Replanting

In May of 2009 we installed a Moon Garden beneath the branches of our Moon Sycamore in the Richard T. Bowers Historic Tree Grove at MOSI.

Last week we removed all of the white lantana that had not been blooming and replaced it with more white pentas, white angelonia, blue daze, white impatiens and white ruffle calladium to brighten up the area. In combination with the pale purple pentas, African iris and plumbago this garden is now lovely once again. As we were planting, a lone Gulf Fritillary descended upon the garden and dashed from flower to flower savoring his own personal garden free of competition.

The Moon Garden is right outside the side doors of the MOSI Grand lobby and is also visible from the Library.

Periwinkle

Periwinkle is one of those ubiquitous perennials and annuals found in pretty much every garden center in the state of Florida. They are pretty, bloom often and tend to be inexpensive which are all traits that have led to the popularity of this species. Here is some information you don’t find on their plant tag in the garden center.

The Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) is a commonly cultivated garden perennial. This species has lovely five-petal flowers that range in color from white to deep pink and often have a darker colored center. Madagascar Periwinkles reseed quite readily and have become naturalized or invasive throughout portions of the tropics. Interestingly, the Madagascar Periwinkle is an endangered plant in its native home, a victim of slash and burn land clearing techniques. This species is also used as a nectar plant by various Florida butterflies.

Madagascar Periwinkle contains the alkaloids vincristine and vinblastine which are used as part of treatments for treatment for leukaemia and lymphoma. Vincristine is a mitotic inhibitor and works to slow to production of rapidly diving cells during mitosis in metaphase. Vinblastine decreases the number of white blood cells and is used in treating cancers of white blood cells such as lymphoma. In traditional Chinese medicine, extracts from this plant have been used to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma, malaria and diabetes.

Caution: This species is toxic if ingested by humans or animals and should be avoided in the garden if your children or animals are prone to tasting foliage for fun.

The common name Periwinkle refers to a number of flowering plants of the genus Vinca and the genus Catharanthus. Both genera are members of the Apocynaceae or dogbane family. The genus name Vinca derives from the Latin word vincire “to bind or fetter” and contains six species found in Europe, southwest Asia and northwest Africa. The genus Catharanthus derives from the Greek root words cathar “pure” and anthus “flower”. This genera contains eight species, seven of which are found only on the island of Madagascar with the eighth occurring in India.