Happy Phenology Friday! I hope you have been enjoying the sunshine, heat, and an abundance of blooms. This week we are featuring the northern starflower (Lysimachia borealis) as this has been a recent addition to our target species list.

You can find this flower peering at you through the woody understories from late May to early June. As its name suggests, the flowers shine bright white from the forest floor, cupped by an arrangement of whorled or alternately arranged leaves. Northern starflower is proven to be a bioindicator of climate change as some scientists have used herbarium records to track its earlier flowering times with warming temperatures in the Midwest (Dangremond et al. 2022).

Photos: Whorled leaves of northern starflower and a plant with flowers (credit: @youngmaleturkey)

Be careful not to confuse the northern starflower with the similarly appearing cucumber root (Medeola virginiana), which has a similar whorled base but also includes a second tier from which flowers emerge. Of course, if you observe cucumber root you should still add your observation to our growing project!

Photo: Cucumber root with buds

Happy observing!

Sources and further reading:

https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/starflower

Dangremond, E.M., Hill, C.H., Louaibi, S. et al. Phenological responsiveness and fecundity decline near the southern range limit of Trientalis borealis (Primulaceae). Plant Ecol 223, 41–52 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-021-01190-w

Fungus gnats are a large family of insects that are numerous in forests. Often overlooked because of their inconspicuous stature, fungus gnats are a group in the order Diptera, or the flies. These insects are mycophagous which is Latin for “mushroom eater”. Therefore, when plants emit smells reminiscent of the decomposers, fungus gnats follow.

Photographs left to right: Leia bivittata (credit: Sequoia Janirella Wrens) and Leptomorphus subcaeruleus (credit: @sebastienbenoit)

Such is the case for our target species Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), which attracts these flies with the fake promises of fungi. Upon receiving this phony signal, the fungus gnats will travel to the flower of the plant. The flower consists of a spadix, a long cone-like structure with reproductive organs, and the spathe, a leaf covering the spadix. Upon arrival, they will end up becoming trapped in the bottom of the spathe, the walls too slick to free themselves and boxed in by the overhanging spathe. 

Gnat survival is all dependent on one factor: the sex of the flower. In male flowers, the gnats can escape through a small hole at the bottom of the spathe, in which they will carry pollen to female flowers when they escape. In female flowers, however, there is no hole, and gnats will eventually meet their deaths.

Photographs left to right: Jack-in-the-pulpit flower, unripe fruit (credit: Claire O’ Neill), ripe fruit (@vickiebell)

 Scientists are still trying to determine the evolutionary benefit of this trap, and until they do, it will remain a mysterious and treacherous journey for fungus gnats in eastern forests. So next time you see a flowering (May-June), or fruiting (July-Semptember) Jack-in-the pulpit appreciate the complexity and mystery of it, take an observation, and consider the fungus gnats.

Sources and further reading:

Suetsugu, K., & Sato, M. (2020). It's a trap! Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 18(4), 187. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2202

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/arisaema_triphyllum.shtml

https://bugguide.net/node/view/12759

Happy summer solstice and Wildlife Wednesday! The end of spring beckons the sun to stick around for a bit longer today. Lengthy, warm days mean that many insects will be spreading their wings to grace the summer skies.

One insect that is finishing up its flight period with the switch into summer is the Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail. Yes, you heard it here, there is a butterfly that exclusively calls the Appalachian Mountain range its home!

These butterflies are quite a recent discovery, only being confirmed as an official species in 2002 (Paluvaan & Wright 2002). They tend to inhabit the mid- to high-elevation areas of the Appalachians from Georgia to Pennsylvania. Also in their range is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and in the northern range, is the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail. After genomic analysis, the Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail was found to be a hybrid of these other two species.

From left to right: Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail (credit: @sharkfanboy), Eastern Tiger swallowtail (credit: Benji Beluga), and Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (credit: Chris Fisher)

From the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, the hybrids inherited the traits of sexual dimorphism and mimicry (Kunte et al. 2011). But hold on- what do these “traits” even mean? Well, sexual dimorphism is when there are differences in traits between males and females of a species- such as color or size. A common example of this in the animal kingdom is cardinals. In both the Appalachian and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, the males are yellow, and the females can be yellow or black. The difference in color can be accounted for by mimicry- or appearing as another species. The females are mimicking the Pipevine Swallowtail, which is poisonous to predators.

The Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail shares with the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail its preference for colder climates, which gives it the unique Appalachian Mountain habitat. Additionally, these two species only have one brood per season- which means they have one reproductive event per season (Kunte et al. 2011). This reproductive strategy is linked to shorter, cooler summer seasons in montane and higher latitude environments.

The hybrid has only been seen laying its eggs on wild black cherry (Prunus serotina). However, for nectaring it enjoys a host of mountain plants including azaleas, mountain laurels, honeysuckle, blackberry, and multiflora rose.

From left to right: wild black cherry (credit: @evangrimes), mountain laurels (credit: @lukentn), and pink azalea (credit: @wilson59604)

If you’re trying to convince your friends to hike the AT or even just a portion of it, you can entice them with the fact that the trail has its own butterfly!

Works cited and further reading:

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-appalachiensis

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-glaucus

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-canadensis

Kunte K, Shea C, Aardema ML, Scriber JM, Juenger TE, et al. (2011) Sex Chromosome Mosaicism and Hybrid Speciation among Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies. PLOS Genetics 7(9): e1002274. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002274

Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey (June 15, 2002) 3(7): 1-20