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Nectar-Seeking Visits By Butterflies In A Tallgrass Prairie Remnant In Eastern Nebraska, Tanya Bray

Biology Faculty Publications

Stolley Prairie, a tallgrass virgin prairie remnant in eastern Nebraska, was visited 20 times between May 25 and August 14, 1988. Fifty-two species offorbs were observed in bloom during this period. Twenty-seven species of butterflies were observed and 21 species made 262 nectar-seeking visits to 21 plant species. While numbers offorbs in bloom did not strongly correlate with numbers of butterflies present, peaks of butterfly occurrence appeared to follow peaks of blossom abundance. The number of plant species utilized by a species of butterfly ranged from one to nine. Plants with an abundance of nectar such as common milkweed and …