Name the Maryland State insect.
Nope, it?s not the cicada.
Drawing a blank? Don?t worry, you?re probably notalone. Maryland?s state insect is a little known but stunning butterfly called the Baltimore Checkerspot.
Its wings resemble the state flag in pattern and color, which surely helped it become the state?s official arthropod in 1973.
Despite its celebrity, this beautiful butterfly is not easy to find fluttering in the wild.
You might see one fluttering in a freshwater wetland where its host plant, white turtlehead, grows.
Its population in Maryland is in steep decline, though, for three main reasons: Land development, all-terrain vehicles and white-tailed deer.
Land development has wiped out much wetlands habitat. People riding ATVs destroy fragile wetlands.
And white-tailed deer graze like lawnmowers on white turtlehead. All add up to less white turtlehead for Baltimore Checkerspots to breed and feed upon.
You can help Baltimore Checkerspots thrive again by telling people about them and encouraging people to protect their wetlands habitat.
As a partner in the Checkerspot Restoration Project, the Maryland Zoo is working to establish a Checkerspot colony in its Bog exhibit.
“The program is going really well,” says Paige Morabito, a keeper at the Zoo. “We have twelve butterflies now and they?re at the stage where they?re laying eggs.”
Provided by The Maryland Zoo,
