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The Iowa Skipper: More Than Just a Butterfly

March 28, 2023

The Iowa skipper (scientific name Atrytone arogos iowa), may be found across the Great Plains and Midwest, spanning 14 states from eastern Montana to Illinois and south to Texas, where it is patchily distributed throughout prairies/grasslands. But what is it that makes this little butterfly so important?

Read our fact sheet below to find out more.

THE IOWA SKIPPER: MORE THAN JUST A BUTTERFLY REFERENCES

Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources. 2022. Rare Species Guide: Atrytone arogos iowa. Available at: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsg/profile.html?action=elementDetail&selectedElement=IILEP70012
Fowler, A. and J. Anderson, eds. 2015. Arkansas wildlife action plan. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Raven P.H. and D.L. Wagner. 2021. Agricultural intensification and climate change are rapidly decreasing insect biodiversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2002548117
NatureServe. 2020. NatureServe Explorer [web application]: Atrytone arogos iowa. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available at: https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.112838/Atrytone_arogos_iowa.
Wilson, R.J. and Maclean, I., 2011. Recent evidence for the climate change threat to Lepidoptera and other insects. Journal of Insect Conservation, 15(1): 259-268.
Oliver, T.H., Marshall, H.H., Morecroft, M.D., Brereton, T., Prudhomme, C., and C. Huntingford. 2015. Interacting effects of climate change and habitat fragmentation on drought-sensitive butterflies. Nature Climate Change, 5(10): 941-945.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources. 2015. Iowa Wildlife Action Plan. Available at: https://www.iowadnr.gov/Conservation/Iowas-Wildlife/Iowa-Wildlife-Action-Plan
Yoon, S.A. and Q. Read. 2016. Consequences of exotic host use: impacts on Lepidoptera and a test of the ecological trap hypothesis. Oecologia, 181(4): 985-996.

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The Iowa Skipper: More Than Just a Butterfly