ABOUT BOM SPECIES LIST BUTTERFLY HISTORY CONSERVATION SPECIES METHODS
The History and Future of Our Butterflies
Table 1: Butterflies Which May Have Increased or Decreased in Massachusetts 1600-1850
Table 2: Butterflies Which May Have Increased or Decreased in Massachusetts 1900-2000
Table 3: Switchers: Butterflies Known to have Switched to a Non-native Host Plant in Massachusetts
Table 6: Species likely to Increase or Decrease in Massachusetts as a result of Climate Warming
Probably Increased |
Probably Decreased |
Pipevine Swallowtail (ornamental vine) |
West Virginia White (forest loss) |
Black Swallowtail (growth of agriculture) |
Banded Hairstreak (lumbering-oaks) |
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (edge/early successional) |
Hickory Hairstreak (lumbering-hickory) |
Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (edge/successional) | |
Spicebush Swallowtail (edge/early successional) |
Hessel’s Hairstreak (lumbering-white cedar) |
Mustard White (growth of agric;later declines) |
Early Hairstreak (lumbering-beech) |
Clouded Sulphur (imported clovers) |
Atlantis Fritillary |
American Copper (open habitat;questionably native) |
Eastern Comma (forest loss; but increase in hops) |
Bronze Copper (increase in open wet meadows) |
Compton Tortoiseshell (forest loss) |
Coral Hairstreak (increase-decrease-increase of early successional woodlots) |
Northern Pearly-Eye (forest loss) |
Striped Hairstreak (increase-decrease-increase of early successional woodlots) |
Mulberry Wing (decrease in sedge meadows) |
Brown Elfin |
Broad winged Skipper (decrease in wild rice) |
Eastern Pine Elfin (first decrease; then increase) |
Black Dash (decrease in sedge meadows) |
Juniper Hairstreak (early successional habitat) |
|
Gray Hairstreak (hops cultivation) |
|
Eastern Tailed-Blue (increase in weedy host plants) |
|
Azure spp. (edge & early successional habitat) |
|
Variegated Fritillary | |
Great Spangled Fritillary |
|
Aphrodite Fritillary |
|
Regal Fritillary |
|
Silver-bordered Fritillary (increase in wet meadows) |
|
Meadow Fritillary (open pasture) |
|
Harris’ Checkerspot (increase in moist meadows) |
|
Pearl Crescent (increase in disturbed habitat) |
|
Baltimore Checkerspot (increase of moist meadows) |
|
Mourning Cloak (use of ornamental willow, poplar and elms) |
|
Gray Comma (currant cultivation) |
|
Milbert's Tortoiseshell (increase in weedy nettles) | |
Red Admiral (increase in weedy nettles) |
|
American Lady (increase in pasture) |
|
Common Buckeye (increase in open areas) | |
Red-spotted Purple/White Admiral (edge and early successional) (dung) |
|
Viceroy (edge and early successional) |
|
Eyed and Appalachian Browns |
|
Little Wood Satyr |
|
Common Wood Nymph |
|
Monarch (increase in open areas and host plants) |
|
Silver-spotted Skipper (import of new host - locust) |
|
Hoary Edge | |
Northern Cloudywing |
|
Dreamy and Sleepy Duskywings |
|
Juvenal’s, Horaces', and Wild Indigo Duskywings |
|
Common Sootywing |
|
Upland Skippers: Arctic, Least, Leonard's, Indian, Peck’s, Tawny-edged, Crossline, Long Dash, Northern Broken-Dash?, Hobomok, Dun, Dusted, Common Roadside |
|
|
|
[Arrivals after 1900: Cabbage White, Orange Sulphur, Silvery Blue, Hackberry and Tawny Emperors??, Common Ringlet, European Skipper]
Decreases |
Increases: immigrants; new hosts or habitat |
Black Swallowtail (decline of agriculture) | Spicebush Swallowtail (early successional habitat) |
Mustard White | Cabbage White (introduced non-native) |
Clouded Sulphur |
Orange Sulphur (range expansion; non native hosts) |
Bog Copper (loss of wetlands in eastern Mass.) |
Frosted Elfin |
Edwards’ Hairstreak (loss of scrub oak barrens ) |
Henry’s Elfin (adoption of buckthorn) |
Juniper Hairstreak (loss of old field habitat) |
Silvery Blue (range expansion, introduced host plants ) |
Aphrodite Fritillary |
Great Spangled Fritillary |
Regal Fritillary (extirpated; loss of large grasslands) |
Baltimore Checkerspot after 1980 (adoption of non-native host plantain) |
Silver-bordered Fritillary (loss of wet meadows) |
Red-spotted Purple /White Admiral (increase of forests, early successional and edge habitat) |
Meadow Fritillary (loss of upland meadows) |
Viceroy (increase of early successional and edge habitat) |
Harris’ Checkerspot (loss of wet meadows) |
|
Baltimore Checkerspot until the 1980s | |
Gray Comma (decrease of host plant) |
Northern Pearly-Eye (re-growth of forests) |
Common Sootywing (decline of agriculture) |
Common Ringlet (range expansion, introduced host lawn grasses) |
|
Wild Indigo Duskywing (adoption of introduced host plant crown vetch |
Silver-spotted Skipper (adoption of non-native host) |
|
Hoary Edge | |
Southern Cloudywing | |
Horace's Duskywing | |
Arctic Skipper (range extension southward) | |
All univoltine wetland skippers except Broad-winged and Dun; e.g. Black Dash, Mulberry Wing |
European Skipper (introduced non-native) |
Many upland skippers: Leonard's, Cobweb , Indian, Hobomok, Tawny-edged, Long Dash, Common Roadside |
Broad-winged Skipper (adoption of Phragmites) |
Pepper-and-Salt Skipper | |
Northern Broken-Dash | |
Little Glassywing (northward range expansion) | |
Delaware Skipper (northward range expansion) | |
|
Fiery Skipper, Sachem, American Snout,, Zabulon Skipper (northward range expansions ) |
Species | Non-Native Host(s) | Presumed Native Host(s) in Massachusetts |
Black Swallowtail | Queen Anne's Lace, Parsley, Dill, Fennel, Carrots ** | Sium spp. Cicuta spp. |
Giant Swallowtail | Citrus spp. ;Ruta graveolens | Zanthoxylum americanum |
Mustard White | garden and weedy crucifers**; Cardamine pratensis var. pratensis | Cardamine diphylla, concatenata |
Clouded Sulphur | Clovers, e.g. Medicago sativa ** | |
Orange Sulphur | Alfalfa | |
American Copper | Sheep Sorrel, Curly Dock, Garden Sorrel ** | (none- butterfly probably not native) |
Bronze Copper | Curly Dock (Rumex crispus) ** | Great Water Dock (R. orbiculatus) and others |
Henry's Elfin
|
Buckthorns | Vaccinium; Nemopanthus mucronatus; poss. other hollies on Cape Cod |
Gray Hairstreak | Trifolium repens, Melilotis, Malva spp. , Humulus** | Lespedeza spp.; Desmodium spp. |
Eastern Tailed-Blue | Rabbit's Foot Clover ** | |
Silvery Blue (Northern ssp.) | Cow Vetch; Crown Vetch | unknown |
Baltimore Checkerspot | Lance-leaved Plantain | Chelone glabra; switch in 1980's |
Question Mark | Stinging Nettle, Hops ** | Elm, hackberry, false nettle |
Eastern Comma | Stinging Nettle, Hops ** | Elm, wood-nettle (Laportea) |
Gray Comma | cultivated Ribes spp. ** | native Ribes spp. |
Milbert's Tortoiseshell | Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)** | Urtica gracilis |
American Lady | Echinops ritro | Anaphalis; Antennaria, Gnaphalium |
Red Admiral | Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) ** | Wood-nettle (Laportea); Boehmeria |
Common Buckeye | Lance-leaved Plantain** ; Butter-and-Eggs (Linaria vulgaris) | Purple Gerardia (Agalinis purpurea); other gerardias |
Common Ringlet | Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) | Stipa spp. |
Southern Cloudywing | recently found on red clover | Desmodium spp; Lespedeza spp. |
Northern Cloudywing | red and white clovers, vetches ** | Desmodium spp.; Lespedeza spp. |
Wild Indigo Duskywing | Crown Vetch (Coronilla varia) | Baptisia tinctoria |
Common Checkered-Skipper | Common Malva (Malva neglecta)** | none |
Common Sootywing | Chenopodium album ** | Chenopodium +Amaranthus spp. |
Silver-spotted Skipper | Robinia pseudacadia (not native to Mass.)** | Apios americana; Amphicarpaea bracteata |
Peck's Skipper | Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis)** | Leersia oryzoides; Little Bluestem |
Tawny-edged Skipper | Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis) | Schizachyrium & Panicum grasses |
Broad-winged Skipper | Phragmites australis (native in part) | Zizania aquatica (wild rice) |
**=known by 1900 to be using non-natives
Note 1: "Native" means "reported to have been present in Massachusetts before the arrival of European settlers."
Note 2: There are few rigorous studies of how often a species’ eggs/larvae are found on one host rather than another in nature. Historical authorities such as Scudder reported what the most widely used host plants were thought to be, drawing on both field observations and laboratory rearings.. Today’s host plant studies usually distinguish between what a species will accept in confined laboratory conditions and what it uses in the wild, and how well it thrives on a particular host. It is also now more clear that a species’ hosts in nature may differ a great deal according to locality.
Likely Increases |
Likely Decreases |
Giant Swallowtail |
Canadian Tiger Swallowtail |
Pipevine Swallowtail |
Mustard White |
Little Yellow |
West Virginia White |
Oak Hairstreak |
Silvery Blue |
Frosted Elfin |
Bronze Copper |
Henry's Elfin |
Bog Copper |
Red-banded Hairstreak |
Acadian Hairstreak |
White M Hairstreak |
Hickory Hairstreak |
American Snout |
Brown Elfin |
Variegated Fritillary |
Hoary Elfin |
Common Buckeye |
Bog Elfin |
Hackberry Emperor | Early Hairstreak |
Tawny Emperor |
Aphrodite Fritillary |
Appalachian Brown |
Atlantis Fritillary |
Long-tailed Skipper |
Silver-bordered Fritillary |
Southern Cloudywing |
Meadow Fritillary |
Sleepy Duskywing |
Harris’ Checkerspot |
Horace’s Duskywing |
Gray Comma |
Common Checkered-Skipper |
Compton Tortoiseshell |
Swarthy Skipper |
Milbert’s Tortoiseshell |
Fiery Skipper |
White Admiral (subsp.) |
Sachem Skipper |
Northern Pearly-Eye |
Little Glassywing | Eyed Brown |
Zabulon Skipper |
Common Ringlet |
Broad-winged Skipper |
Dreamy Duskywing |
Dun Skipper |
Arctic Skipper |
Dusted Skipper |
European Skipper |
Ocola Skipper |
Leonard's Skipper |
|
Indian Skipper |
Long Dash |
|
|
Hobomok Skipper |
Two-spotted Skipper | |
|
Pepper and Salt Skipper |
|
Common Roadside Skipper |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Notes:
Increases: can take place either through movement of current ranges north (for example, White M Hairstreak, Southern Cloudywing, Zabulon Skipper), or through increase of numbers due to more favorable breeding season (for example, Horaces' Duskywing). Specifically, a species might become a "new resident", successfully over-wintering when it had not earlier (for example, possibly Pipevine Swallowtail, Common Checkered-Skipper, or Little Yellow). In some species, increases in the number of broods may be possible: for example, fresh individuals of, say, Wild Indigo Duskywing in September may indicate three broods, rather than the two broods we know of at present. Or finally, there are late-season migrants which may simply be seen more frequently during the summer, such as Common Buckeye, Sachem, Fiery Skipper, Ocola Skipper, and Long-tailed Skipper, which may go through brood cycles but which probably cannot over-winter.
© Sharon Stichter 2010 , 2011, 2012
page updated 12-18-2012
ABOUT BOM SPECIES LIST BUTTERFLY HISTORY CONSERVATION SPECIES METHODS