Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal Announces a School Program to Hold a Butterfly Contest to Vote for a New York State Butterfly Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal is joining Assemblywoman Sandra Galef in announcing a butterfly contest to involve 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in a statewide vote to determine the New York State Butterfly. The Assemblywoman has invited school principals in her district to have their schools participate in this unique opportunity.

This contest was inspired by an eager 3rd grader in Galef’s district, promoting the adoption of a statewide butterfly. Assemblymember Rosenthal is pleased to join her in this initiative, inviting students to vote on several butterflies, on or before Election Day. After a final tally, the winning butterfly will be put into legislation to be voted on by the Senate and Assembly to become the New York State Butterfly.

The five butterflies that will be voted on by our students, giving a picture and small paragraph about each one, are displayed on her Assembly website. She invites you to encourage your schools to take part in this program, giving the students hands on experience about the electoral and legislative process, while having fun.

This contest is a wonderful way to get our young people involved and a good way for them to learn about the election process. They will also learn about biology, and the environment, as well as how to get legislation passed," stated Rosenthal.

List of Butterfly Nominees:

This butterfly is part of the Parnassians and Swallowtail families. The males perch and patrol for receptive females. The coloring of both the butterfly and its caterpillar are very showy, and they have two broods, adult flight periods, per year in New York State. As a caterpillar it feeds on carrots, parsley, and dill, making them easily attracted to gardens. Its habitat tends to be suburbs, fields, marshes, and roadsides.

The Karner Blue butterfly has become an emblem of an endangered species since 1992, because of its restrictive habitat that has been dwindling due to such things as land development. Michigan and Ohio have plans to re-establish the Blue Karner in different parts of their state. It is roughly the size of a postage stamp, the male being blue with black and white and the female having more brown and grayish colorings. The butterflies host plant is the wild lupine in open savannas and cleared areas.

Milbert’s Tortoiseshell is found in the northern part of New York State, as it is very adaptable being able to live in urban or rural areas. It is viewable for much, if not most, of the non-winter seasons, May-October, because it lives through the winter as a butterfly. This butterfly is part of the Brush footed butterfly family and like the Black Swallowtail it has two broods per year. They can be seen perching on hillsides, logs, or behind bushes, and tend to be very colorful.

The Mourning Cloak is a medium to large size distinctive butterfly, showing off brown and black wings with yellow boarder and blue spots. It is the first butterfly one sees in the spring and the last one to disappear in the fall. It tends to perch on high objects and is seen in cities and villages throughout New York State. In England, its common name is the "Camberwell Beauty." The common name of this butterfly has been spelled in a variety of ways-- "Morning Cloak", "Mourning Cloak" and "Morningcloak." The approved standardized common name (established by the Entomological Society of America) is none of these, but rather"Mourningcloak".

This butterfly can be seen statewide, the red-spotted form in the southern areas of the state, adapted to a different coloring to survive in this area, and the white form in the northern areas, the older of the two form; there are two forms, but essentially one species. It is a "mud-puddling" butterfly, lapping up sodium ions at mud puddles. It is in the family of brush-footed butterflies, Latin name is nymphalidae. New York has an acceptable habitat to both forms allowing for a significant population of each, which is unique.

Nominees and information gathered from http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ and research from Tim McCabe, Ph.D., State Entomologist and John Fortino, Butterfly House Coordinator Hershey Gardens.