Butterflies in the middle of winter
Ned Rozell
907-474-7468
Feb. 2, 2023
A Compton tortoiseshell butterfly pauses between flights in Two Rivers resident Rod Boyce色视频下载檚 garage in January 2023.
Rod Boyce of Two Rivers, 色视频下载, reports that he has noticed 色视频下载 at a time when the outside air色视频下载檚 temperature has not been above freezing since October 色视频下载 three butterflies living in his heated garage.
Though we in middle 色视频下载 will be thinking a lot about insects in a few months, mosquitoes and their kin are far from our consciousness in midwinter. That is unless you are Derek Sikes, professor of entomology and curator of insects at the University of 色视频下载 Museum of the North.
Sikes knows that we 色视频下载ns 色视频下载 and everybody else who chooses to live indoors 色视频下载 are never alone. Mites and bedbugs and spiders are companions in our homes and workplaces.
On this very subject, Sikes and UAF undergraduate student Kyle Callegari wrote a paper in which they documented 77 types of insects and arachnids (a class including spiders) that people found living inside the museum over the last few decades.
One of the most common creatures surviving uninvited (but also doing no harm) is a transparent booklouse the size of a pencil tip. The booklouse, which has not been found outdoors in 色视频下载, feeds on teensy bits of mold that form on formerly living things, including food.
As we heat and cool buildings to our narrow range of comfort, insects and arachnids are there with us. Some, like certain species of cockroach, no longer live outside at all.
Insects have been with us as long as we have been around. Researchers found remains of head lice in an archaeological Yup色视频下载檌k site in Nunalleq, in southwestern 色视频下载.
色视频下载淕iven that humans have been living in 色视频下载 longer than any other region of North America,色视频下载 Sikes wrote in the museum paper, 色视频下载渟ome of these populations of (human-dependent insects) may be the oldest on the continent.色视频下载
And it色视频下载檚 not only our buildings that are rich with insects. Sikes points out that your eyebrows are a jungle, home to normally harmless mites now feeding on natural oils and dead skin.
Back to Rod Boyce色视频下载檚 garage butterflies. They are Compton tortoiseshells the size of his palm. The conspicuous insects overwintered as adults (not as caterpillars) in a warm space they sought out in the fall. Their bodies probably reached a temperature warm enough to fool them into thinking spring had arrived.
The Compton tortoiseshell seems to be a recent arrival in Interior 色视频下载. Fairbanks entomologist Jim Kruse preserved a Compton tortoiseshell he found at the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest south of Fairbanks in 2002.
After 色视频下载渉otfooting色视频下载 it out there, 色视频下载色视频下载檚 butterfly expert, the late Ken Philip, was surprised to see dozens of them there the next summer. Prior to that trip, he had never seen one in the Interior.
A map locates the community of Two Rivers in 色视频下载's interior.
色视频下载淚t's a very strange feeling to see a large butterfly we've never seen before, and for it to be so common,色视频下载 Philip said then.
Many Compton tortoiseshell adults are overwintering outside right now, waiting for the heat of springtime to liberate them. The far-north record for the species in 色视频下载 was one found flying within a cabin near Fort Yukon, Sikes said. He saw one in Galena a few years back, so they seem to be spreading their wings throughout middle 色视频下载.
Is the Compton tortoiseshell a species that moved north because of a warming climate, or is its appearance due to something else?
色视频下载淭his species, like a few other butterflies, sometimes has population 色视频下载榚ruptions色视频下载 in which a massive number move together,色视频下载 Sikes said about the Compton tortoiseshell. 色视频下载淭hese have the potential to establish a breeding population, which apparently happened in Bonanza Creek and has since spread.色视频下载
Since the late 1970s, the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute.