Nathan’s Notes

June 2023   As I sift through the multitude of emails flooding my inbox each day, it feels peculiar to admit that something has been missing this spring. Every year, I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the “Butterfly Forecast for Central Iowa.” It serves as a delightful reminder that butterflies […]

Curious about just what species of butterflies are currently in flight at the Gardens? Our web browser- and Android smartphone-based app will be able to tell you exactly what you can see at the in the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing every day. The app will allow you to … Identify […]

One of our regulars in the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing is the Parides butterfly commonly called Cattlehearts. They belong to the family Papilionidae, which makes them a close relative of swallowtails, but they’re not actually swallowtails. In a neat trick of evolutionary survival, the primary food for the larvae is […]

Everyone knows Reiman Gardens loves butterflies, but now we’re bumping up our game in educating the public about other insects as well. Thanks to a grant from Alliant Energy, we have a new entomology display, which will rotate a variety of invertebrate species: walking sticks, cockroaches, beetles, tarantulas, scorpions and […]

One of the most stunning butterflies of all is the Common Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides). It’s popular at the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing not just because it’s blue, but because it’s a shimmering, iridescent blue that subtly changes depending on the viewing angle. This amazing color isn’t created with pigment–as […]

Some butterflies are amazing examples of biological diversity, and the Scarlet Mormon (Papilio rumanzovia) is one such butterfly. It’s a regular in the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing. For one thing, it’s “sexually dimorphic,” that is, the male and female butterfly look different. That’s not the case with all butterfly species. […]

The pupae of the Cruiser butterfly (Vindula dejone) is amazing, and very different than most of the others we receive. They look like little dragons hanging upside down! Another interesting characteristic of this species is the adults are sexually dimorphic, which means the males and females look different from each […]

It is amazing the difference an “o” makes. In the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing we fly both Archaeoprepona demophon (Banded King Shoemaker) and Archaeoprepona demophoon (Silver King Shoemaker). Not only are the names similar, but the two species even look very similar. In the wild they occupy the same habitats but, interestingly, utilize different parts […]

Sometimes the best camouflage is to have no camouflage at all. The Glasswing Butterfly (Greta oto) has fascinating wings with clear membrane so that you see right through them. This allows it to instantly blend in, no matter what the background. It can be hard to find, so take an […]

Swallowtails are spectacular butterflies, and in the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing we fly both the Thoas swallowtail (Papilio thoas) and the giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes). At first glance, these two species can be very difficult to tell apart. Learn to ID them by counting the number of spots on the […]