Does Bt Corn threaten any Rare Prairie Skippers

[John Shuey]

> Paul wrote:
>
> >I remember reading somewhere that the EPA said it was unaware of any
> >threatened or endangered lepidopterans that breed inside or at the edges
> >of corn fields.

I can give you numerous examples of regionally imperiled skippers and
butterflies and moths that are limited to small prairie/savanna remnants that
are completely or largely surrounded by corn alternated with beans in
Indiana.  All you have to keep  in mind is that 99.9% of mesic tallgrass
prairie has been converted to row crop agriculture - the math gives you 0.1%
original prairie imbedded in agriculture.  In most cases, rowcrop fields abut
prairie remnants.  Specific examples include:

The only remaining population of Speyeria idalia in Indiana - three sides of
the 40 acre remnant is in corn this year.

Euchloe olymipia - often found on savanna islands in seas of row crop.

Hesperia metea, sassacuss and leonardus, all found on the open edges of those
same savanna remnants.

Problema byssus - located on a few mesic prairie remnants in NW Indiana - the
two where I work are surrounded by agriculture.

Our Amorpha canescens feeding Catocala - all limited to savannas adjacent to
row crop.

And on and on...  These species are all thought to occur at 10 or fewer sites
in the state, and are certainly in danger of local extirpation.  Whether or
not Bt corn impacts these species or not - who knows - because no one has ever
investigated the issue.  The potential for negative impact to these is
certainly present for those populations restricted to particularly small
grassland remnants


John Shuey