Butterfly Feeding Preferences for Four Zinnia Cultivars

Abstract

Zinnias are recommended frequently for inclusion in butterfly gardens as nectar sources for adult butterflies, but little is known about butterfly preferences for different zinnia cultivars. We compared numbers and species of butterflies that visited four widely available zinnia cultivars: Zinnia violacea Cav. (formerly Zinnia elegans Jacq.) ‘Lilliput’, ‘Oklahoma’, ‘State Fair’, and Zinnia marylandica Spooner, Stimart, and Boyle ‘Pinwheel’. Mixed colors were used for all cultivars. Based on a total count of 2355 butterflies, representing 30 species, more than twice as many total butterflies visited ‘Lilliput’ than visited any of the other cultivars. Also, a greater number of butterfly species visited ‘Lilliput’ than visited any of the other cultivars. More than half of the counted butterflies belonged to the family Nymphalidae, with members of the families Pieridae and Hesperiidae being the second and third most frequent visitors, respectively.