Our first battle of the invertebrates of Round 2 of March Species Madness pits the Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) against the Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui).
The prime pollinator, the bumble bee, has already defeated one butterfly in its drive for the Final Four; will it make it two? The website Insect Identification calls this bee, “an industrious workhorse… (flying) from flower to flower, drinking nectar and collecting pollen”. Its fuzzy hairs on its abdomen are the perfect pollen collectors, helping to propagate plants throughout the habitat. These hardy species handle the cold better than other bumble bees, meaning they’re out later in the autumn and earlier in the spring, helping plants to get a jumpstart on the season.
But don’t count out the Painted Lady; it knows how to travel! Its migration outpaces that of the Monarch, and it is an “irruptive migrant”, meaning that its migratory path isn’t related to seasonal or geographic patterns (though some evidence suggests that they may be responding to El Nino effects). They sometimes migrate flying 6-12 feet above the ground, unfortunately making them susceptible to being hit by cars, or they can fly at very high altitudes. This butterfly is a rather unpredictable creature (click here to learn more). Maybe this will give it an advantage over the stalwart bumble bee? Hey, it worked for Mohammed Ali!
So, will the winner float like a butterfly or sting like a bee? We won’t know until the votes are cast, so cast your ballot below.