A new project is hoping to save the threatened British swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon britannicus) by rearing the insects from frozen eggs – a process known as cryopreservation, where biological material is preserved at extremely low temperatures for future use.
This rare subspecies – mostly black and cream with red and blue false eyes on its wings to deter predators – is only found in East Anglia and is Britain’s largest native butterfly. It is typically seen in areas of the Norfolk Broads where milk parsley grows, but living in such a limited area puts its future at risk.
British swallowtails are classified as vulnerable on the GB Red List and are threatened by climate change, habitat loss and loss of genetic diversity.
“Although this has been an excellent summer for our native butterflies, the long-term picture for the British swallowtail is one of decline,” says Dr Alvin Helden at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU). The British swallowtail population has fallen by 57% in the last 20 years, although this has stabilised thanks to conservation efforts.
Experts from ARU, Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park and the British biobank Nature's SAFE are working together to find new solutions to slow this decline further.
“Our project will combine fieldwork and lab research to see if we can establish a reliable method for preserving the British swallowtail’s genetic material by using its closely related, but less endangered, European cousin,” explains Helden.
Using a genetically similar European swallowtail subspecies (Papilio machaon gorganus) that is kept at Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park, they will try to raise butterflies from cryopreserved eggs that were frozen in liquid nitrogen at -196C (-320F). Their goal is to see how successfully they develop and reproduce compared with butterflies that hatched from non-frozen eggs. The team believes this is the first time someone has tried to use cryopreservation for butterfly conservation.
If it works, the researchers hope to use the method with the British swallowtail, storing its frozen eggs in case they can be used in future breeding and reintroduction projects. “Building capability in this area provides the opportunity to create impact for conservation, food production and biodiversity preservation – the critical triad for human and planetary health,” says Debbie Rolmanis, COO of Nature’s SAFE.
Top image: British swallowtail butterfly. Credit: Mark Collins, Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust
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