Saving the Schaus
By Ryan Fessenden
Captive-bred Adult Schaus Swallowtail |
Left: Historic Range of Schaus Swallowtail; Right: Current Range |
The Schaus Swallowtail is a larger swallowtail butterfly that is closely related to the far more common Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) and is itself a subspecies of a butterfly that calls the Caribbean home, collectively known as the Island Swallowtail. Unlike all its cousins, however, the Schaus has one generation a year, from May to June, at the beginning of the wet season when its preferred host plant of Torchwood (Amyris elemifera) is producing new and tender leaves.
The Schaus Swallowtail is well adapted to its home in the hardwood hammocks of South Florida. In general it flies low at eye-level and has no trouble darting and weaving between trees. The Schaus also has the unusual ability to fly backwards for a short time, no doubt a way to avoid predators (and researchers) and the darker dorsal surface of the wings help it to blend into the broken light and shadow of the hammock.
Schaus Swallowtail Life Cycle |
Saving the Schaus Swallowtail
The University of Florida is now engaged in its second attempt to bring back this endangered butterfly. In the 1990s a team led by Dr. Thomas Emmel bred Schaus Swallowtails and released them to booster a shrinking population. Eventually things looked like they were stable, money ran out, and people went on to other things. In the meantime, for reasons not yet fully understood, the Schaus population again began to decline. When a survey team was sent to Elliot Key, the heart of Schaus Swallowtail territory in Biscayne National Park, a meager handful of the butterflies remained.
Larvae being reared on Wild Lime (Zanthoxylum fagara) in the Daniels Lab at the Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville FL. |
Elliott Key and Biscayne National Park
Schaus Swallowtail habitat on Elliott Key in Biscayne National Park |
The small developed area on the island features the houses, a welcome center and docks as well as a short boardwalk. The only other maintenance done on the island is keeping clear a narrow road cut down the middle of the island like a spine. This narrow road is all that is left of what would have been the town of Islandia before the island was bought by the federal government as part of the National Park. It is said that this narrow road was named Spite Highway by the developer of the island after it was bought. The name has stuck and any who transverses it would consider it an appropriate name given it is little more than broken up coral rock ad not easy on ones feet or tires. The road cuts through three salt marshes and is often flooded, making the two plus mile trek to the south side of the island where the butterfly is most prominent a challenge.
A researcher stands in a flooded portion of Spite Highway fully protected from mosquitoes. |
Butterflies are beautiful creatures and in many cases it doesn’t take much to seriously disrupt their life cycle. It is up to us to be aware of the world around us and to know just what kind of effect our very presence has on other life. The Schaus Swallowtail is very much unique among Florida’s butterflies and I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to show these amazing creatures to future generations not pinned in a box but flying by, dancing about the trees.
Ryan Fessenden is Assistant Manager of the Butterfly Rainforest at the University of Florida's Florida Museum of Natural History and is responsible for everything from USDA permitting to photography and identification. As a master’s student, Ryan focuses on sub-lethal effects of insecticides on Monarch larvae and has been a part of the Schaus Swallowtail conservation project for three years.
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