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AR Natural Heritage Commission » News and Events » Multimedia Gallery » Monthly » Diana Fritillaries at Terre Noire

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Diana Fritillaries at Terre Noire

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Terre Noire Natural Area is one of the highest-quality blackland prairies remaining in the state. It is a mosaic of open forest, woodland, and prairie with a high diversity of native flowers and grasses.
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Recent restoration work at this natural area has improved habitat for the Diana fritillary. They require a fire-maintained ecosystem with high native plant diversity.
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Diana fritillaries generally live in pine-oak woodland/savanna and deciduous/mixed forests where large quantities of violets can be found in the understory—violets are its larval food plant.
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Adults feed at the margins of these habitats on the nectar of flower species such as purple coneflower, butterfly weed, horsemint, and wild bergamot.
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Purple coneflower, a favorite of the Diana fritillary.
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Butterfly tagging station in the shade at the edge of the open woodland.
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Dr. William Baltosser of UALR (right) goes over the tagging process with ANHC's Jennifer Akin (left) and Bill Holimon (center).
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Volunteers then divided up into groups and headed to different parts of the natural area to look for butterflies.
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Capturing a butterfly is not easy. They move fast. Here volunteers are looking for a male Diana that dropped to the ground.
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Using the net takes quite a bit of practice. You want to capture the butterfly without injuring it.
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This butterfly was captured right next to the tagging station, so it was handed directly over to Dr. Baltosser.
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Dr. Baltosser preparing to tag the butterfly.
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Typically, butterflies are captured at other locations within the natural area then carried back to the tagging station in glassine envelopes. Craig Rudolph (left) of the U.S. Forest Service turns over a catch to Dr. Baltosser.
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Removing the butterfly from the glassine envelope.
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A male Diana fritillary just removed from a glassine envelope.
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An untagged male Diana fritillary. Tags are placed on the underside of the lower left wing.
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Butterflies are placed into a homemade paper envelope with three holes that expose the underside of the left wing.
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Each butterfly is tagged with a small, numbered paper circle. Here Dr. Baltosser prepares a number for a butterfly.
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A piece of scotch tape is used to remove a few scales from the wing, then a dot of super glue is dabbed onto the cleaned space.
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The number is then placed onto the dot of glue on the wing and is allowed to dry.
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Dr. Baltosser makes sure a leg doesn't get stuck in the glue. This male Diana wouldn't hold still in the envelope.
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Dr. Baltosser records the sex of each butterfly, the GPS location of where it was captured, the tag number, and information regarding what the butterfly was doing when captured (resting, nectaring, etc.).
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A freshly tagged male Diana fritillary right before release.
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This one looked pretty rough.
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Each butterfly is released at the exact location it was captured.
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A male Diana nectaring on purple coneflower after being tagged.
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Adult Diana fritillaries are sexually dimorphic, meaning the male and female look completely different. Here you see a female Diana fritillary.
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A freshly tagged female Diana.
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Another tagged female Diana.
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A female Diana fritillary nectaring on a purple coneflower after being tagged.
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Fifty-one Diana fritillaries (male and female) were captured during this survey. This information will help us make future management decisions at Terre Noire Natural Area so it can continue supporting these rare, unique creatures.

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