Help the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly

The state insect of Maryland—the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly—only exists in small, isolated areas in the state, mostly in Western Maryland. One of the most vividly colored butterflies with its bright orange, white and black pattern, experts worry that the butterfly, once fairly common, may disappear entirely from the state.

Researchers at the University of Maryland have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $5,000 to help bring the state insect back to College Park.

Researchers at the University of Maryland have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $5,000 to help bring the state insect back to College Park. The funding will allow the researchers to:

• Establish and hand-rear several colonies of Baltimore Checkerspot butterflies on campus;
• Purchase and raise the butterfly’s host plant—the white turtlehead (Chelone glabra)—in greenhouse space on campus;
• Build at least three enclosures that will protect the white turtlehead plants from deer; and
• Create protected meadows on campus that feature the white turtlehead.

The native white turtlehead grows best in wet woods, marshes and stream banks. The plant is preferred by deer, which have decimated the growth of this critical plant, eliminating the Baltimore Checkerspot butterflies as well.

This crowdfunding campaign is supported by researchers in Entomology Assistant Professor Dennis vanEngelsdorp’s laboratory; members of PollinaTerps, a group working to build a pollinator-friendly community on campus; and the University of Maryland Arboretum led by Carin Celebuski.

The researchers will also collaborate with the Smithsonian Institution and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to rear and release Baltimore Checkerspot caterpillars into the enclosures in the next few years.

The team’s crowdfunding campaign runs through May 8. You can support the team at any time by visiting the Launch UMD page.

Crowdfunding page
Dennis vanEngelsdorp’s laboratory
PollinaTerps
UMD Arboretum

Media Relations Contact: Abby Robinson, 301-405-5845, [email protected]

University of Maryland
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
2300 Symons Hall
College Park, MD 20742
www.cmns.umd.edu
@UMDscience