Researchers from both Canada and the United States are rushing to figure out why a small, brown and orange winged butterfly is dying out quickly

Listed as an endangered species in Manitoba in 2012 and listed nationally as threatened, the Poweshiek skipperling (Oarisma poweshiek) butterfly population has dropped dramatically throughout North America. In Canada, it is known to only inhabit 17 fields in south-eastern Manitoba, primarily on the Nature Conservancy of Canada's Tall Grass Prairie Natural Area. In the United States, the closest population appears only in a handful of sites in Iowa and North Dakota. Researchers from the University of Winnipeg, Minnesota Zoo and University of Michigan are now just outside of Winnipeg performing valuable research on this declining species. Since the adult butterfly is active for only two to three weeks, researchers are using this critical time to collect information on the Poweshiek skipperling's genetics and genetic diversity to save this important butterfly from extinction. "While many people think of the panda as an endangered species, the Poweshiek skipperling is rarer and right here in our backyards," said Cary Hamel, conservation science manager with the Nature Conservancy of Canada in Manitoba. "If we don't figure out why the population is declining so quickly and why the butterfly is dying off, we'll have lost another important species that used to live in the tall grass prairie. The cross-border collaboration with researchers will hopefully save this species from further decline or extinction."

Source: Wildlife extra, July 2013
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=1&listcatid=1&…