Windwolf
Crex Meadows Butterflies ... Karner Blue
Karner Melissa Blue
Lycaeides melissa samuelis
My First Karner Blue on Crex Meadows!
This Karner Blue was located on the eastern side of Crex Meadows right in the road. A fresh wolf scat had attracted several types of insects and as soon as I saw the little blue butterfly with the orange spots on the underside of its wings I KNEW what we had here!
The Karner Blue posed for us and allowed us to be VERY close! The two I saw this day would fly very low and rapidly, but once they landed, they were fearless and allowed very close observation.
When we were finished with our photography, we moved the wolf scat to the side of the road in an attempt to protect the butterfly from traffic.
Picture to the right and below taken August 6, 2008 and are of the same butterfly.
The Karner Blue tended to flick its wings open once upon landing then would be very uncooperative as far as showing me its blues.
The wolf scat was crowded with a Viceroy, several Coral Hairstreaks, a couple of grasshoppers, crickets, some beetles and even bees came in and out of the picture. The Karner Blue would slap at any insects which came too close with its wings in a very rapid slap motion. I could not get an open wing shot that way.
The Karner Blue would wiggle its hindwing in an up and down gyration motion as it stayed on the wolf scat.
The Karner Blue is a Federally Protected Specie and Crex Meadows has a consistant population of these endangered butterflies.
I attempted to get an open wing shot as the Karner Blue was in flight. The picture to the right is the best one I got.
Reading up on Karner Blues, it appears this first Karner is a male. Female Karner Blues will be darker and have orange markings on the upper portion of their wings.
Wing span: 7/8 - 1 3/8 inches (2.2 - 3.5 cm).
Caterpillar host: Lupine (Lupine perennis)
Eggs are laid on assorted parts of the host plant or on nearby debris. Caterpillars eat young leaves and are tended by ants who feed on the caterpillars' sugary secretions.
Habitat: Karner Blue (subspecies samuelis) inhabits sandy pine prairies, barrens, and lakeshore dunes in the east.
Karner Blue in flight picture taken August 6, 2008 and is the same butterfly as the above pictures.
A storm passed through Crex Meadows and we took a break. After the storm we were on the north east side of the meadows and I came across a second Karner Blue!
I never got an open wing shot of this one, but once again, after the Karner Blue landed, it allowed me to get very close and take pictures without moving or fleeing.
Camera settings needed adjusting as now the skies remained cloudy. The picture to the right and the picture below are of the same butterfly, with changed camera settings.
Both of these butterflies seemed very fresh and probably had just hatched out within a day or two of us finding them.
| Kingdom | Animalia | (Animals) |
| Phylum | Arthropoda | (Arthropods) |
| Superclass | Hexapoda | (Hexapods) |
| Class | Insecta | (Insects) |
| Subclass | Pterygota | (Winged Insects) |
| Order | Lepidoptera | (Butterflies and Moths) |
| Superfamily | Papilionoidea | (Butterflies) |
| Family | Lycaenidae | (Gossamer winged butterflies) |
| Subfamily | Polyommatinae | (Blues) |
| Genus | Plebejus | |
| Species | melissa | (Melissa Blue) |
| Subspecies | samuelis | (Karner Blue) |
Below is a location map where I have seen Karner Blues on Crex Meadows. If the map is not showing, you do not have javascript enabled on your computer.