Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Buckwheat and the El Segundo Blue Butterfly


Buckwheat and the El Segundo Blue Butterfly

Male-and-Female-El-Segundo-Blue-Sterba (Euphilotes battoides allyni) 
Photo ©Don Sterda and Friends of Ballona Wetlands

Nothing warms my heart quite like hearing the happy news that butterflies are flourishing~ somewhere.  Rarely do we get good news about our winged friends lately.  But this story is one of hope and promise!

The El Segundo Blue (Euphilotes battoides allyni) is a pretty light blue butterfly that is found nowhere but in So California and is federally designated as Endangered.  This butterfly is named for the dune system where it makes its home.  There are only three known colonies still existing, and the largest is located on a small area of land owned by Los Angeles International Airport and maintained as the El Segundo Blue Butterfly Habitat Preserve, which was created in an effort to protect this rare species. (The land was formerly known as Palisades del Rey.)

El-Segundo-Blue (Euphilotes battoides allyni) 
Photo © Patrick Tyrrell, Program Director at Friends of Ballona Wetlands


The Good News: Recently it was reported that the El Segundo Blue Butterfly re-established itself in a small area of the wetlands about half-mile away from the LAX site.  More than (100) butterflies have been seen near the Ballona Wetlands. The El Segundo Blue’s population in the Ballona Wetlands has increased steadily over the past seven years. Ecologists believe that the El Segundo Blues found in the Ballona Wetlands moved there from the LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) preserve, as the El Segundo Blue is not a highly migratory species. It will not travel outside of 400 feet from home to find food. This bodes well for the return of other endangered species to the wetlands and tells that restoration efforts are working.

Eriogonum parvifolium (Dune Buckwheat Detail) 
Photo © 2006 Steve Matson

Naturalists are delighted to find that the small blue butterflies are making use of the Coastal (Dune) Buckwheat (Eriogonum parviflorum). After an intensive effort by volunteers to remove invasive iceplant (native to China), the native Buckwheat had more room to grow. Corridors opened up making room to plant more Buckwheat, as well. The volunteers are part of the nonprofit Friends of Ballona Wetlands.  Coastal Dune Buckwheat (Eriogonum parviflorum) is the sole food source of the Blues, and they will also use the Buckwheat to lay eggs, as it is their host plant.

About the Blues: The El Segundo Blue Butterfly, in the family Lycaenidae, emerges during summer when the flowers of its host plant, Coastal Dune Buckwheat (Eriogonum parviflorum) open. The adults live only a few days, during which time they will mate and lay eggs. Within a week, the eggs will hatch, and the larvae will feed entirely on the flower heads of their host plant. El Segundo Blue spends virtually its entire life cycle in intimate association with the flower heads of just this one species of buckwheat.

The El Segundo Blue’s dorsal wing color is blue, with the males being brighter blue than the females. The ventral side is gray, with square-shaped spots and a series of orange spots on the hindwing that appear merged into a single band of color.

El-Segundo-Blue Butterfly on Dune Buckwheat, 
Photo © Patrick Tyrrell, Program Director Friends of Ballona Wetlands

The El Segundo Blue has found its home increasingly coveted by humans. One of the last remaining populations lives by the Los Angeles International Airport. The airport’s construction, oil refining, sand mining and urban development have all claimed large portions of its dune habitat, which used to be more extensive. Though the threat of development has  been largely halted, there are other threats, as well. Their host plant is competing with several introduced plants, including other Buckwheat Eriogonum species on which the El Segundo Blues cannot feed.

In order to ensure the future of the El Segundo Blue Butterfly, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has started dune management programs which focus on restoring the sites’ native vegetation. The Urban Wildlands Group has applied to the USFWS for an enhancement of survival permit and safe harbor agreement for approximately two acres of bluff habitat on private property in Los Angeles County, California. I have written previously about the Ballona Wetlands, and the how important this preserve is to so much wildlife, as one of the last remaining wetlands in California.  As time goes on, I hope that this place will remain safe for many generations of wetland wildlife to continue to prosper.

As you might expect, the folks at Friends of Ballona are excited! Their message to volunteers, “Stay tuned – this is one of our most exciting developments in years – a DIRECT result of our restoration efforts!”

Dune Buckwheat (Eriogonum parvifolium) 
Photo ©Charles Webber California Academy of Sciences



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