06/13/2020
California Pipevine Swallowtail PSA: ⚠️🦋🦋🦋⚠️
Hey Folks! It's time for some real talk. Do not introduce Pipevine Swallowtails from outside Northern California into the Northern California Region. 🚫📩📬🐛🙅🏻♂️
California Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor hirsuta) are a subspecies of Pipevine swallowtail unique to the Northern California region where they have been naturally geographically isolated (suggested by experts that it started 1.8 million years ago!) and have have specialized on feeding on one natural host plant in the region, California Pipevine (Aristolochia californica).
It was brought to our attention that USDA-APHIS will soon permit (or already has) interstate sales and transfers and potentially release of Pipevine swallowtails.
Due to the sensitive and subtle genetic and evolutionary distinctions among populations and subspecies of of Pipevine swallowtails across North America (including our local B.p. hirsuta ) we do not support these terms and recommend that California gardeners (or any habitat gardener) should source their butterflies locally (ideally from within your county) or better yet, attract them naturally to their garden through habitat creation in order to preserve the unique beauty, genetics, ecological, and the biogeographical dynamics of Pipevine Swallowtail populations. In example, Northern California gardeners should not introduce butterflies from southern California and vice versa. California gardeners should not source butterflies from other states/regions. Help us keep California Pipevine Swallowtails they way they are.🤗
Gardening for butterflies is a rewarding practice and it may be tempting to source caterpillars from elsewhere to quickly have them in our gardens. Creating habitat for Pipevine swallowtails is not easy and takes patience; for the plants to grow and then for the butterflies to show up. Please make sure our haste as humans doesn't compromise the natural beauty of our butterflies or their habitats!
Thank you for listening,
California Pipevine Swallowtail Project
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