DAVIS -- The California governor just met the California state insect and loves it.

When the Bohart Museum of Entomology recently gifted Arnold Schwarzenegger with a framed copy of the California state insect, the California dogface butterfly, he quickly relayed his appreciation for the gift and the work of the Bohart Museum team.

“Please accept my thanks to you and the Bohart Museum of Entomology for the striking print of the California state insect, the dogface butterfly,” he wrote in a letter to poster designer Fran Keller, a doctoral student of entomology based at the Bohart Museum of Entomology on the University of California, Davis campus.

“Every time I see something like this, I’m even prouder of California’s tremendous natural resources and the many beautiful species who call our state home (not to mention the talents of a certain poster designer),” he wrote.

The governor, given the poster in April, praised the Bohart team for the work they are doing "to conserve and restore this remarkable species, and I’m glad to have it represent the great state of California. Thanks again for what you do and for taking the time to share it with me.”

Greg Kareofelas, a Davis naturalist and photographer, scanned the butterfly images for the 18-by-24 poster. It features a multicolored male, sometimes called “a flying pansy,” and the larger, mostly yellow female. The male is from the Kareofelas’ butterfly collection, and the female is from the Bohart Museum collection.

UC Davis scientists say the butterfly (Zerene eurydice) is found only in California, is rarely seen in nature and is rarely recognized.

The poster, published last summer, is intended to spark “interest in our state insect and conservation efforts,” said Keller. “The dogface butterfly is found only in California, but it’s losing its natural habitat due to rapid California development.”

Its main host plant, False indigo (Amorpha californica), is a riparian shrub that grows among poison oak and willows and along stream banks, often in steep and isolated canyons. Dogface butterfly larvae feed on the False indigo.

“Its main host in our area, the Napa False indigo, is rare and endangered,” Kareofelas said. “Elsewhere in the state, its host plant is the False indigo and while not endangered, it’s still difficult to find.”

Strengthening the link between the insect and its main host is crucial to its conservation, said entomologist Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and interim chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. “We need to preserve and protect that relationship.”

The California dogface butterfly, so named because of the poodle-like head silhouetted on the wings of the male butterfly, officially became the state insect in 1972. Its image appeared on a U.S. Postal Service stamp in 1977. Last summer the distinctive butterfly reappeared on the new 41-cent “pollination” stamp issued to emphasize the ecological relationship between pollinators and plants.

Keller hopes that the poster will be a collector’s item. “I’d like to see this poster in every classroom in California,” she said. “Sometimes the best way to educate is to make something pretty.”

The fast, high-flying butterfly is elusive except when it nectars on flowers, said internationally renowned butterfly expert Art Shapiro, a UC Davis professor of evolution and ecology who co-authored the Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions with T. R. Manolis (UC Press, 2007).

“I’d say only one of every 10,000 Californians has ever seen the butterfly in the wild,” Shapiro said. “People rarely see them because their habitat isn't exactly densely inhabited and they tend to fly high up in the trees. People aren't familiar with them and don't really know what to look for, or where.” More information on the California dogface butterfly is on Shapiro’s Web site at http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu.

The California dogface butterfly poster is available for $18 laminated or $15 non-laminated at the Bohart Museum, 1124 Academic Surge, UC Davis, with checks payable to the Bohart Museum Society. Contact information: bmuseum@ucdavis.edu and (530) 752-0493. The poster also may be ordered online from the Bohart Web site, http://bohart.ucdavis.edu. All proceeds benefit the Bohart Museum outreach program.

The Bohart Museum, dedicated to teaching, research and service, houses the seventh largest insect collection in North Americas. The global collection of some seven million insects focuses on terrestrial and fresh water invertebrates. The museum is the home of the California Insect Survey, showcasing the insect biodiversity of the state’s deserts, mountains, coast and central valley.

See more information on poster at http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/news/dogfacebutterfly.html