Jessica Butters | Prairie Rivers of Iowa

The Incredible Diversity of Iowa Moths and Butterflies

by Jessica Butters | Jun 29, 2022

Did you know that National Moth Week is celebrated in July? Read up on Iowa’s native moths and butterflies to be ready to celebrate Moth Week right, from July 23rd to 31st!

Iowa is home to about 110 butterfly species, and over 2,000 moth species! Butterflies and moths are related: both are in the insect order Lepidoptera, which roughly translates to “scaled wing”. Most of us think of moths as the ugly stepsisters of butterflies, but this is not true! In fact, I would call moths the sleeping beauties of our natural world (they are beauties that are often active while we sleep). Don’t continue to sleep on the incredible beauty of Iowa moths, and get to know our butterflies better!

Giant Silk Moths
If you’re lucky enough to have seen a luna moth, then you’ve seen a member of the giant silk moth group, called the Saturniidae family (Saturnia is the daughter of Saturn in Greek mythology). This group also includes the cecropia moth, named after Cecrops, a half-man-half-snake king in Greek mythology. If you squint at the top outer corner of the cecropia moth’s front wing by the dark eyespot, you can see what appears to be a profile of a snake’s head. Lastly, the luna and cecropia moths don’t eat as adults – they have no mouths! They only eat as caterpillars, which is common in the mysterious world of moths.

Hawk Moths and Hummingbird Moths
Aptly named, these moths look and fly like humming birds, hovering while drinking nectar with their straw-like mouths (called a proboscis). Some also mimic bumble bees, like the snowberry clearwing pictured on the right! Belonging to the family Sphingidae, these moths can be diurnal (day-active) or nocturnal (night-active). Some species don’t eat as adults. For those that do, they are important pollinators for prairie orchid and primrose species!

Owlet and Underwing Moths
Most of these moths are the experts of disguise, using drab colors on their front wings to blend in with bark and dead leaves. They are in the family Noctuidae, the largest family of moths in North America. Underwing moths, however, have a secret weapon: their back wings can have bright colors that hide under the front wings, and can be flashed to startle a predator during escape!

Tiger Moths
When wooly bear caterpillars mature, they are called tiger moths, also known as the family Erebidae. These moths can have bright colors decorated with geometric lines, consequently nicknamed “tiger” moths. I saw the tiger moth pictured here the last week of June at Ada Hayden park! This species of tiger moth is called the “reversed haploa moth” due to the fact that it has two color variations: either geometric lines on the front wings with plain white back wings, or the reverse: plain white front wings with geometric back wings.

Brush-footed Butterflies
The family Nymphalidae, commonly called the brush-footed group, is one of the most popular groups of butterflies with monarchs, regal fritillaries, and painted ladies included in its ranks. Why are they called brush-foots? Their front legs are very small, and kept close to their body (similar to t-rex dinosaurs in my opinion). These front legs aren’t used for walking and are basically reduced to little “brushes”.

Swallowtails
While one of the most entrancing butterflies, swallowtails are tough; they overwinter here in Iowa! As caterpillars, this group (which is the family Papilionidae) spin their chrysalises and wait out the winter under dead leaves, giving us another reason to leave areas in our yard undisturbed this fall. The caterpillars of this group can just as awe-inspiring, with some having bright green colors, or eyespots that can make them look like snakes to scare predators away!

Whites and Sulphurs
This group of butterflies has a charming behavior; they like puddles! Belonging to the Pieridae family, these butterflies are the most likely to be found in a “puddling” group, sucking up extra nutrients in the water. Adult butterflies appear white, yellow, orange, and sometimes have black markings. One of the coolest butterflies in this group is the Olympia marble, a species of special concern in Iowa due to declining numbers. Just look at its metallic markings against snow-white wings!

Blues, Coppers, and Hairstreaks
These tiny butterflies are also called gossamer wings, due to the beautiful shimmer that reflects off their wings! These butterflies are a part of the family Lycaenidae, and also love visiting puddles, so don’t let their looks fool you; they are hardcore. Continuing that thought: the species Satyrium edwardsii, or Edward’s hairstreak, has some wild behavior as a caterpillar. At night it feeds on oak leaves, and during the day it rests in active ant nests for protection! This species is also a species of special concern in Iowa due to declining numbers.

Skippers
If you can’t tell if an insect is a butterfly or a moth, you may be looking at a skipper. Skippers are in the family Hesperiidae, and have chunky bodies with hooked, hockey-stick-shaped antennae. They appear carefree as they skip through the air. From the side, their wings give them a triangular, shark-fin shape. Out of the two butterfly species in Iowa considered endangered, one is a skipper, called the Dakota skipper. It requires high-quality prairie remnants, a habitat extremely hard to find in Iowa.

While many people love butterflies, these insects don’t always receive the respect they deserve being diverse and important wildlife. They are more than nature’s gems-they are important pollinators that have fun behaviors to appreciate! Moths are often forgotten, despite the fact that they can be bigger and more colorful than many butterfly species, and have the coolest adaptations, such as flashes of color and mouth-less adults! The world of moths and butterflies is not just a pretty one; it’s a wild one!

The Incredible Diversity of Iowa Bees

by Jessica Butters | Jun 8, 2022

June is National Pollinator Month! While many animals can act as pollinators (from bats to butterflies to beetles), this month we are choosing to celebrate the most efficient pollinators of them all: native bees!

Iowa has nearly 400 species of native bees. While the word “bee” brings the honey bee (Apis mellifera) to most people’s minds, this is just one species of bee and it is not native to Iowa; they were brought to the States by early settlers. Unlike honey bees, nearly all of Iowa’s native bees are solitary, meaning one female bee creates and tends her own nests. There are too many bee groups and species to cover in one article, and therefore we are focusing on only eight common groups of bees in Iowa to appreciate this month: bumble bees, cellophane bees, sweat bees, mining bees, mason bees, long-horned bees, leafcutter bees, and carpenter bees.

Bumble Bees
One of the most beloved groups of bees, bumble bees are large bees that look chunky and fluffy (what’s not to love?). They nest above or below ground in abandoned burrows or cavities, and are Iowa’s only truly social native bees! Their colonies can be large but only live for one year. Near the end of the hive’s life, young queens hatch and leave the hive to hibernate alone during winter, then emerge the next year to start their own hives. An easy way to tell bumble bees apart from large carpenter bees is that they have fuzzy abdomens, while carpenter bees have shiny black, nearly hairless abdomens.

Cellophane Bees
Also known as plasterer bees or polyester bees, these fuzzy friends are in the bee genus Colletes. They are known by a wide range of plastic-alluding names due to the plastic-like coating they create to line their underground nest cells. The plastic-like substance acts like waterproofing, protecting eggs and developing larvae from moisture, fungus, and other threats. Cellophane bees are active in spring here in Iowa.

Sweat Bees
Bees in the sweat bee group belong to the family Halictidae. They come in a vast array of colors, sizes, and nesting strategies; there are about 500 different species of sweat bees in North America alone! My favorite genus of sweat bee may be Augochloropsis; these bees have green, comma-shaped wing shields (also called tegulae), are a brilliant blue-green color, and there’s even a bee with the species name metallica! Other sweat bee genera range from metallic to dull brown in color, with many nesting in the ground. While not truly social, some sweat bees nest communally by sharing main tunnels underground, similar to how we share hallways in apartment buildings!

Mining Bees
This group of bees often includes bees in the Andrenidae family. These bees excavate their nests in the ground and come in a range of sizes. These bees are currently active in Iowa! Look for their nests by finding small piles of dirt around a hole the size of a #2 pencil (though the size of the hole varies between species). You may find more than one nest in an area!

Mason Bees
Belonging to the genus Osmia, this group of bees is especially important for the pollination of fruit and other crops! They are also in the same family as leafcutter bees (Megachilidae). They are beautiful metallic bees here in Iowa and are active in spring. Some species are cavity nesters, so they may occupy a bee hotel if provided! Alternately, some species make their nests entirely out of mud, a trait that earned them the nickname “mason bee”.

Long-Horned Bees
Aptly named for their long antennae, most species of long-horned bees nest in the ground. Only males have amazingly-long antennae, sometimes nearly reaching the length of their entire body! Many bee genera belong to the long-horned bee group. Some species are very fluffy and are consequently called “teddy bear” bees, which is probably the cutest nickname in the insect world!

Leafcutter Bees
Belonging to the genus Megachile (meaning “big-lipped” in Greek), many leafcutter bees have huge jaws that cut pieces of leaves with which to line their nests. These bees mostly nest above-ground and may utilize your bee hotel. While many bees store pollen on their hind legs, leafcutter bees are unique in that they collect and store pollen using the underside of their abdomen! There they have thick, broom-like hairs called scopa that sweep up and trap pollen during flower visits.

Carpenter Bees
Did you know that there are two main kinds of carpenter bees? There are the large carpenter bees that you are probably familiar with, which can look similar to bumble bees. However, there is a second, lesser-known group of tiny carpenter bees belonging to the genus Ceratina. These tiny carpenters chew down the pithy centers of stems and twigs to form rows of nest cells. These bees are one of the reasons to dead-head your flowers and leave the stems standing at the end of the growing season; you’re providing a nesting site for tiny bees! Also, some species have the coolest cream-colored spot on their nose.

There are countless details in the bee world to learn and appreciate. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all of the bee groups and their quirks occurring in Iowa, much less the rest of the world. For instance, I didn’t even mention parasitic bees, which are bees that don’t make their own nests or collect pollen for their young; instead, they steal it from other bees! Next time you are outside on a sunny day, take a moment to focus your eyes on a smaller scale and look for flower visitors; you may meet someone new!

Take it Easy for Pollinators This Spring!

by Jessica Butters | Apr 26, 2022

Signs of spring and warmer weather can be energizing, motivating us to start spring-cleaning our homes inside and out. However, some pollinators are still resting in their winter homes, and cleaning up your lawn too soon can be detrimental to the new generation. For some spring lawn care tips that support pollinators continue reading below!

Pollinators either migrate to warmer climates or go through a phase called “diapause” to survive the harsh winters of Iowa.

Diapause is similar to hibernation in which an insect pauses any development and stays in a kind of suspended animation until conditions are more favorable. There may be many insects in your yard that are still hibernating under leaves or inside flower stems waiting for warmer weather in order to emerge. Rushing to clean up all your leaves and brush now can disturb and damage these pollinators so it is best to leave some “messy” areas in your yard as long as possible. Waiting until the end of May, a time of year when day temperatures consistently reach 50 F (usually), is best. Taking it easy and waiting until later in the spring to tidy up is the easiest way to support pollinators at home!

One specific way to protect pollinators until they emerge is to leave the leaves that have accumulated in your yard. Bumble bee queens especially love to overwinter under layers of leaves as it provides them an insulating layer that protects them from the wind and cold. While you may not want leaves covering your entire yard this spring, leaving the leaves in your garden beds, in particular, can not only protect the pollinators resting there but may also provide you with some composting and weed-suppressing services. Additionally, leaving last year’s flower stems in the garden and not cutting them back until late May will give most stem-nesting bees a chance to emerge as well.

An additional option to support pollinators is to participate in No Mow May, a campaign started by Plantlife in the UK and spearheaded here in the US by Bee City USA, run by the Xerces Society. The goal of No Mow May is to keep your mower in the garage until June and allow floral resources such as dandelions and clover to spring up in your yard providing early pollinators with food resources. Waiting to mow also means the longer grass is able to provide more cover for other insects needing shelter.

While we all want to support pollinators and enjoy them in our yards this year, it can be difficult to allow your lawn to look a bit wilder and to your neighbors, it may look a bit messy. They may not understand that your yard isn’t a mess – it’s a habitat for pollinators! There is much pressure to maintain the traditional, yet outdated, yard of green turf grass containing little to no diversity. To address these concerns we provide the following solutions:

Start taking it easy on your backyard
If your front lawn simply must remain manicured, set aside your back yard to leave the leaves and flower stems and not mow until May. This will still help pollinators and make the pollinator habitat less visible from the street.
Create a “Cozy Corner”
If you can’t put aside your entire back yard, try leaving an unused area in the yard undisturbed. You can create a “cozy corner” for pollinators throughout the coming growing season by leaving the leaf litter there undisturbed and by adding twigs, branches, and other brush to the area as you clean up. This cozy corner can provide shelter for not only insect pollinators, but birds as well! Adding layers of brush to your cozy corner will ensure it serves as an excellent shelter for birds and a fantastic nesting site for pollinators, especially for overwintering. It is also a fun family activity that can be built upon throughout the year!
Educate your neighbors
Let your neighbors know that your yard is providing a specific and important purpose and that it may mean they will be able to enjoy more butterflies and bees in their garden this summer. Here’s a link to free signs created by the Xerces Society you can print out and place in your yard. Spread the word about how you are helping pollinators. Ask others to join you!

There are many ways to support pollinators at home. Many people are starting the fun process of gardening for the foraging needs of pollinators by growing native flowers. However, few people think about the nesting resources that pollinators require. Be mindful with yard clean-up by taking it easy this spring and finding an area to leave undisturbed throughout the year. It will aid in pollinator emergence and provide them with nesting sites. Have a happy and relaxing spring!

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