Webinar Title: Butterflies (Great Southeast Pollinator Course — Week Three)
Webinar Date: June 30, 2026
Speakers: Dr. Sonia Altizer, Head, Department of Entomology, University of Georgia; Jeremy Rhoden, Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator, UF/IFAS Extension, Marion County, FL — Florida State Coordinator, Great Southeast Pollinator Census
Moderator: Becky Griffin, UGA Extension (co-host: Rich Braman, behind the scenes)
Duration: 1:29:24
Series: Great Southeast Pollinator Course
CEU / Credit: No applicator CEU. 1 PLU for educators attending the live session.
NARRATIVE SUMMARY
Dr. Sonia Altizer, head of the UGA Department of Entomology, opened Week Three with about 30 minutes on butterfly diversity and biology, drawing on a career studying monarchs and the parasite that first pulled her into the field. She made the case for butterflies as environmental indicators and conservation ambassadors — highly visible, extensively monitored, and harmless to people since they don’t sting, bite, or spread disease. She placed them in scale: over 150,000 species of Lepidoptera worldwide, about 20,000 of them butterflies, roughly 700 in North America and nearly 200 across the Southeast. She explained how wings make color, from pterin and ommochrome pigments and black melanin to the structural iridescence produced by microscopic ridges, and walked through the five families a beginner should learn (Papilionidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae, Hesperiidae, Nymphalidae). Host-plant specialization anchored the second half of her talk — the spicebush–pipevine–black swallowtail mimicry complex and its non-toxic red-spotted purple mimic, the cardenolides monarchs sequester from milkweed, and the caterpillar–ant partnerships among the lycaenids. She pointed identifiers to BAMONA (butterfliesandmoths.org) and the Seek app.
Jeremy Rhoden, Florida State Coordinator for the Census, turned biology into garden practice around four habitat resources: host plants, nectar plants, shelter and overwintering, and water and minerals. Framing the work through the generalist-versus-specialist split — he cited roughly 90% of the Southeast’s plant-feeding insects as specialists — he urged gardeners to expect larval feeding damage, since many host plants tolerate 90–95% defoliation, and reminded them that “trees host the most,” with Florida live oaks supporting 330-plus Lepidoptera species. He covered the Xerces Society native-plant finder, nectar traits butterflies prefer (landing pads, reds and purples, tubular flowers), a 75%-native target, puddling, “leave the leaves,” and a Xerces figure of 22% of U.S. butterfly species lost between 2000 and 2020. He closed on why rearing-and-release is now discouraged and a push toward the census. The joint Q&A covered butterfly declines, monarch migration and South Florida’s resident population, solar Bluetooth tracking tags, raising caterpillars for education versus population “boosting,” bird feeders during fall migration, chrysalis placement, and mosquito spraying.
YOUTUBE TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Welcome and Introductions
2:00 Sonia Altizer: Butterflies, Her Favorite Group
4:06 The Monarch and a Career in Butterfly Disease
6:52 Why Butterflies Matter: Indicators and Icons
9:18 Lepidoptera, Wing Scales, and the Dust Myth
11:11 How Butterfly Wings Make Color
12:42 Butterfly Diversity of the Southeast
15:26 20,000 Species Worldwide; Butterfly vs. Moth
19:05 Five Butterfly Families to Learn First
20:53 Common Southeastern Species and Host Plants
24:01 The Swallowtail Mimicry Complex
25:48 ID Resources: BAMONA and the Seek App
28:11 Life Cycle, Host Plants, and Chemical Defenses
31:15 Lycaenid Caterpillars and Their Ant Partners
33:02 Handoff to Jeremy Rhoden
34:16 Jeremy Rhoden: Four Habitat Resources
36:04 Generalist vs. Specialist Insects
40:38 Host Plants and Feeding Damage
43:44 Clutch Sizes and “Trees Host the Most”
45:36 Xerces Society Native Plant Finder
47:00 Nectar Plants and What Butterflies Prefer
51:05 Native Plants and the 75% Target
53:31 Shelter and Overwintering Habitat
56:19 Water, Minerals, and Puddling
58:50 Threats and Conservation Challenges
1:01:44 Butterfly Declines and Microhabitats
1:04:15 Why Rearing-and-Release Is Discouraged
1:06:00 Building a Butterfly Landscape: Final Tips
1:08:42 Join the Great Southeast Pollinator Census
1:11:15 Q&A: Becoming a Pollinator Ambassador
1:12:41 Q&A: Where Have the Butterflies Gone?
1:15:33 Q&A: Monarch Migration and South Florida
1:19:51 Q&A: Raising Caterpillars for Education
1:23:07 Q&A: Bird Feeders and Chrysalis Placement
1:25:08 Q&A: Mosquito Spraying and Butterflies
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Q: How do I tell a butterfly from a moth?
A: Sonia offered several rules of thumb, noting there are exceptions to each. Butterflies tend to have thin antennae with clubbed tips, while moths have feathery or thread-like antennae. Butterflies are generally active during the day; most moths are active at dusk, dawn, or night. At rest, butterfly wings fold up above the body while moth wings lie flat, and butterflies tend to have slimmer bodies and brighter coloration than the chunkier, duller moths.
Q: If I’m just starting out, which butterfly groups should I learn first?
A: Sonia recommended learning the five most common Southeastern families before drilling into species: the swallowtails (Papilionidae), the whites and sulfurs (Pieridae), the gossamer-winged blues, coppers, and hairstreaks (Lycaenidae), the moth-like skippers (Hesperiidae), and the brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae), which include the monarch and are the largest and most diverse family.
Q: I photographed a butterfly or caterpillar I can’t identify — what tools will help?
A: Sonia pointed to BAMONA (Butterflies and Moths of North America) at butterfliesandmoths.org, where you can upload a photo with the date and location for a reliable species ID and browse each state’s top 20 butterflies. She also uses the Seek app, which is tied to iNaturalist and gives a reliable identification most of the time. Jeremy added that Seek, Google Lens, and Apple’s built-in identification have all improved for insects and caterpillars.
Q: Something is eating my milkweed down to nothing — did I do something wrong?
A: No. Jeremy stressed that if you plant host plants, feeding is exactly what you want. Many host plants have evolved to withstand heavy foliar damage — often 90 to 95% defoliation — and still recover. He has milkweed that gets eaten to the ground every year and comes back, and he cautioned against spraying or treating the plants when caterpillars show up.
Q: Which nectar plants are butterflies most drawn to?
A: Jeremy said butterflies prefer flowers with a landing pad — either a well-defined center like a coneflower or a flat cluster such as an umbel or a lantana bloom. They are highly attracted to reds, pinks, and purples (unlike bees, which can’t see red), and their longer tongues let them reach into tubular flowers. He advised choosing a mix of shapes and colors, including long narrow flower tubes and landing-pad flowers.
Q: How much of my landscape should be native plants?
A: Jeremy recommended aiming for 75% or more native, making natives the dominant species. Non-native plants are fine to enjoy as long as they aren’t invasive, but he explained that heavy nectar producers like the non-native mimosa can pull pollinators away from native plants, leaving those natives unpollinated and in further decline.
Q: How can I provide water and minerals for butterflies?
A: Jeremy described puddling, where butterflies draw both moisture and nutrients from wet soil, so leaving exposed moist soil helps. For a DIY option, fill a plant saucer with gravel and add shallow water so butterflies have something to stand on while they drink. He also mentioned fruit plates and, as a lower-maintenance approach, planting native fruit trees such as figs, persimmons, and blackberries and letting the fruit ripen on the ground. Any standing water or bath needs regular cleaning to avoid spreading disease.
Q: Should I raise and release monarchs to help boost the population?
A: Both presenters advised against release. Jeremy noted current research discourages raising and releasing captive butterflies because it can spread disease to wild populations, and he stopped the release tent at his own festival for that reason. Sonia said rearing a handful of caterpillars — four, five, maybe ten — for education or personal enrichment is fine, but raising 100 to 500 for release, or mailing monarchs to Texas to “help” the migration, does not help them survive in the wild.
Q: Why am I seeing fewer butterflies than I used to?
A: Sonia said the observation is real. A collaborative study published last year found declines of more than 10% over the past 20 years — “for every five butterflies we saw 20 years ago, only four remain today” in North America — with over ten times as many species declining as increasing, though the losses are uneven across species and regions. Jeremy cited a Xerces Society finding that 22% of U.S. butterfly species disappeared between 2000 and 2020, an average decline of about 1.3% per year.
Q: Why do some monarchs migrate to Mexico while others stay in South Florida?
A: Jeremy and Sonia explained that South Florida has a resident population of monarchs that don’t migrate, some of them genetically distinct from migratory monarchs. The region also sees coastal overwintering and migrants passing through in spring and fall. Tracking work shows younger monarchs making journeys — some traveling over 100 miles from South Florida up to Valdosta — while older ones tend to stay put. Sonia highlighted new solar-powered Bluetooth tags that communicate with a phone app and can detect a tagged monarch within 100 to 200 meters, generating the data needed to answer these questions.
Q: Should I take down my bird feeders in September when the monarchs arrive?
A: Sonia said no. During the fall migration, monarchs are heavily defended with cardenolides that deter bird predation, and at that time of year they are more likely to be taken by large spiders or praying mantises than by birds. The chemical defense fades as monarchs age over several months, but not during fall migration, so there’s no reason to remove feeders then.
Q: Does spraying for mosquitoes contribute to butterfly decline, and what can I do about it?
A: Sonia said aerial mosquito spraying has long been suspected of killing caterpillars and butterflies, though firm data is hard to get, and she encouraged less harmful alternatives. Jeremy suggested asking your county to designate your property a no-spray zone and checking whether your state (through its plant and consumer services or agriculture department) keeps a spray registry you can join. Both pointed to reducing mosquito larvae directly — dumping standing water, using mosquito dunks or floating Bt discs in ponds and retention areas, and using repellents — rather than broadcast aerial spraying and fogging.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- BAMONA — Butterflies and Moths of North America: butterfliesandmoths.org (photo-based species ID; top 20 butterflies by state).
- Seek app / iNaturalist: photo identification for insects, plants, and other organisms.
- Xerces Society native-plant finder: searchable by state, with bloom time, larval-host, and pet-safe indicators.
- Great Southeast Pollinator Census: August 2026 — participants count pollinators to monitor population trends.
- Florida Pollinator Ambassador program (in development): email Jeremy Rhoden directly to join the interest list (landing page pending).
- Georgia Pollinator Stewards: run through local UGA Extension offices — contact your county agent.
- Alabama Pollinator Partners: contact your local Extension office.
- Monarch tracking app: Becky Griffin will post a link with the recording show notes.
Processed for UGA Center for Urban Agriculture / Great Southeast Pollinator Course Archives
Source: Corrected SRT (Stage 1) — GTBOP_Transcript_2026-06-30_Butterflies.srt (340 blocks)