University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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They caught, catalogued, stamped, dried and pinned. Researchers delved into the not-so-mysterious world of the lovely, durable winged creatures known as opping Patterson Laboratories in seven greenhouses, en- tomologist Dr. Lawrence E. Gilbert grew passion vines to feed his laboratory-hatched Heliconius butterflies. Raised from eggs in containers resembling miniature plastic ket- chup cups, the colorful winged subjects of Gilbert ' s research were then transferred to greenhouses imitating the tropic surroun- dings of Gilbert ' s study site in the 70,000- acre rain forest in Costa Rica. One of several different butterflies which roomed in a greenhouse, the Zebra Heliconius fluttered about with bright yellow and black striped wings. Its bottom fluores- cent yellow stripe was actually a series of dots following one another in line. Other species had shiny, vibrant colors ranging in the spectrum from reds, oranges and whites to violet, blues and greens. The winged insect was distasteful and poisonous to its predators because of its diet during the larval stage Gilbert said. The newly hatched larvae dined on a species of the passion vine. This plant, waging a war in nature, contained a poison which evolved a more toxic poison to keep the butterflies from feasting on it. The butterflies turned this attack into a victory by storing the toxin in their bodies which caused them to taste bad to predators. The passion vine ' s second plan of attack in its war for survival was the evolution of more than 500 species of pas- sion vine with more than 200 leaf shapes, yet the Heliconious platoons were still able to recognize their host plants. Butterflies by SANDRA E. WILLEKE The vines have more recently developed a new defense. Resembling a scene from a horror film, minute hooks invisible to the naked eye snared and hopelessly trapped lar- vae as they crawled out of their egg shells. Yellow spots of color that resemble but- terfly eggs at the base of some passion vine leaves kept female butterflies from laying on that leaf because butterflies are cannibalistic; the first-hatched larva would destroy remain- ing eggs on its leaf. When a mother butterfly saw these yellow spots, thinking they were previously laid eggs, she continued her search for an empty leaf. Down four stories and across campus, deep inside the Education Annex, Dr. Christopher Durden updated his collections, some of which dated back to the 1880 ' s, of pinned butterflies and insects. His domain encompassed two rooms literally lined and filled with jars of 415,000 insects and 22,000 spiders floating in alcohol a veritable library of bugs. A third room contained catalogued butterflies and moths, natives from as many states and countries as Univer- sity of Texas students. Part of the thousands of insects collected were gifts to the University and more have been caught, dried and pinned by graduate students or others working on projects, theses and dissertations said Durden. For the research to be valid, it had to be properly documented, which included having voucher specimens in a collection and notes in an archive. Durden, a specialist in fossilized insects, did not confine himself to the 48,000-year- old fossilized butterfly from Colorado he was studying. He also added to the growing collections after field trips in the bountiful butterfly hunting grounds of Austin. In the summer of 1981, he discovered three new species in Sierra Madre, Mexico. UT ' s researchers studied butterflies because they were highly visible compared to the non-flying counterparts. Also, but- terflies were almost as well known, in terms of recorded species, as birds so the men were able to concentrate on the flying insects ' behavior instead of identifying them. The idea behind this study in Gilbert ' s area of research, was to understand why the Heliconius butterfly population did not fluc- tuate drastically in good or bad conditions. Dr. Gilbert believed that by understanding these facts, humans could subtly control in- sect populations which harm economically important crops like cotton. Durden studied how modern fossilized in- sects were related and how they evolved. He and his colleagues also identified insects for hospitals, determining what insects had bit- ten victims and they also identified insects for students ' projects. After catching butterflies around the world, both respected scientists returned to the University of Texas campus to continue their respective studies. At opposite ends of campus in similar crowded offices, both men studied the where, why and how of the lovely, durable winged creatures known as butterflies. S Butterfly Research

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ton as res Cdondo IK dtpoving acsifc bountiful IpMrfAEffiLlnthe ... ...... ft fen -.-:: kconpMd Abo, but- ( ilW ini]tlx A descendant of a butterfly transported from Costa Rica, this Htliconiui chlysonynius light on a passion vine flower; both are research subjects living in Patterson Laboratories. Butterfly Research 9