PHILADELPHIA — The eastern subspecies of the regal fritillary butterfly, marked by orange forewings and dark hindwings, is found in only one location in North America and is threatened with extinction.
That location: The 17,000-acre Fort Indiantown Gap National Guard Training Center in Pennsylvania, the most heavily used National Guard training center in the U.S. with firing ranges and combat simulation areas that get extensive use.
This month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (NWS) proposed that the eastern (Argynnis idalia idalia) subspecies of the regal fritillary, a large butterfly, be placed on the federal endangered species list. The NWS also proposed listing the western (Argynnis idalia occidentalis) subspecies as threatened.
What’s Special About the Eastern Regal Fritillary Butterfly?
Once found fluttering from New Brunswick to North Carolina, the eastern regal fritillary is now limited to the base in Lebanon and Dauphin Counties — about five miles north of Hershey. The caterpillars and emerged butterflies need the habitat to support larvae, sources of nectar, and tall sheltering grassland.
Officials say additional protection is needed because the butterfly can’t migrate to other areas if its current habitat is degraded or lost. Climate change and drought also threaten that habitat, as changes in temperature and moisture can impact bloom times of native violets, whose flowers the caterpillars need to survive. Adult regal…
