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Species Accounts
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Karner Blue Butterfly
(Lycaeides melissa samuelis)
Wild Lupine
(Lupinus perennis)
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
General Information
The Karner Blue Butterfly is an endangered species native to the Great Lakes region of
the United States. It can be found in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in northwestern
Indiana, and also occurs in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New York.
It’s life history is dependent on the wild lupine plant (Lupinus perennis ) (Figs. 7,
8, & 9), a wildflower whose preferred habitat is the dry soils of open pine and oak
savanna that can be found in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Figs. 1, 2, & 3).
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The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is an
outdoor laboratory for the study of plant succession. Made famous in the early 1900’s
by the studies of Henry Chandler Cowles, this area is unique for its unlikely mixture of
plants. Prickly pear cactus can be found growing with arctic bearberry. Jack pines from
the north grow in proximity to southern dogwoods.
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Figure 1 - Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
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Figure 2 - Oak Savanna Habitat
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When plants grow on a site, they change it,
making way for the next assemblage of species. The entire progression of ecological
succession from bare sand to mature forest can be observed at the Indiana Dunes as one
moves inland from Lake Michigan.
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Jack pines and black oaks grow on the sandy
dunes. Interdune areas consist of ponds, marshes, and sphagnum bogs with sugar maple and
red oak in the moist ravines.
Field research continues at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to learn more about this
important ecological area and to develop conservation and management plans for the species
that occur here.
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Figure 3 - Field Research Station
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Figure 4 - Karner Blue Butterfly
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Reproductive Behavior: The life cycle of the
endangered Karner Blue Butterfly is dependent on the wild lupine plant (Figs. 7, 8, &
9). Two generations of this butterfly occur each year. The first hatch occurs in late
April from eggs laid the previous year, and the second hatch from eggs laid early in the
summer season.
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This small butterfly with a wingspan of about
1 inch is sexually dimorphic. Viewed from above, males differ from females, but on the
underside, both sexes show a continuous band of orange crescents along the edges of both
wings and scattered black spots circled with white.
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Figure 5 - Karner Blue Butterfly
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Figure 6 - Karner Blue Butterfly
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Adult Karner Blues feed on the nectar of
flowering plants, but the caterpillars of the Karner Blue feed only on the leaves of the
wild lupine. |
The wild lupine prefers dry soils in open
woods and clearings such as pine and oak savannas and barrens. Because the Karner Blue
depends on wild lupine, Federal recovery plans for the Karner Blue Butterfly include
protection and management of wild lupine habitat.
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Figure 7 - Wild Lupine Habitat
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Figure 8 - Wild Lupine Inflorescence
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The wild lupine has blue pea-like flowers.
Habitat loss due to land development and the lack of fire and grazing that prevents forest
encroachment in its preferred open savanna habitat continues to threaten the wild lupine. |
Wild lupine leaves (lower left) are palmate
and radiate into 7 to 9 segments. Note the pea-like seed pods. |
Figure 9 - Wild lupine Seed Pods
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Conservation Status
Habitat loss and butterfly collectors continue to threaten populations of the Karner
Blue Butterfly. Collection is illegal without a permit from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
If you would like to learn more about endangered species and what you can do to protect
them, please contact the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (see links
page of this web site) or your State Department of Natural Resources.
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All images are courtesy of CWBO. All image copyrights are owned by CWBO.
Any use of these images must have permission of CWBO. |
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