This homely brown moth hangs out in a beautiful place.

It was thrust into the spotlight in September when it was discovered and photographed for the first time at ArcelorMittal Research and Development’s piece of prairie in East Chicago. Named the blazing star borer moth (Papaipema beeriana) it is a rare, prairie dependent moth found in the Midwestern United States. 

As its name suggests, the blazing star borer moth can only survive if there are bright pretty purplish blazing star plants for their caterpillars to eat, and the ArcelorMittal prairie has two different species this rare moth can use, the rough and the marsh blazing star. 

There are several reasons why this moth is so rare, and not only due to it being a picky eater.  The technical term is monophagous, which means they only eat one genera of plants, much like monarch caterpillars can only eat milkweed plants.  The blazing star borer moth are also only found in remnant (unplowed) prairie grasslands, which is the most endangered of all ecosystems on the face of the planet.

Pre-European settlement, Indiana contained around 15 million acres of prairie, yet less than 1% remains, making the seven acres of remnant prairie found at the Research and Development Center a valuable refuge for native plants and animals.

Marsh Blazing Star

Additionally, a management technique, prescribed fire, is often used to help kill non-native plants that came from other parts of the world and help return nutrients to the soil, a must for fire-dependent prairies. However, this can negatively impact species like the blazing star borer moth because its eggs are found in the dead grasses over winter and they don’t hatch until spring, maturing into adulthood in September.  With burns take place in the fall and early spring, the eggs would also be burned, which can cause the moth to disappear from the site. 

As an excellent steward of this restored dune and swale site, ArcelorMittal follows the practice of only burning a portion of the prairie at a time, allowing for unburned areas to remain where species such as the blazing star borer moth can overwinter and survive.  It’s likely that in the future more prairie-dependent insect species will be found in the ArcelorMittal remnant prairie. One of the oldest ecosystems in the world surround an R&D center producing some of the most advanced technology of our time.

--Susan Kirt helped with this story and deserves credit for her photographs

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Marsh Blazing Star
Rough Blazing Star-native of the prairie and home to the rare blazing star moth

If you’re passionate about something, you should share it with others. That‘s exactly what R&D employee Matt Bartz did with his leadership of the dune and swale restoration project at R&D in East Chicago. Years ago, Matt (a master gardener) contacted IDNR, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to come out and look at the property surrounding our research lab in East Chicago. It was identified as a rare dune and swale area, a tiny remnant of the 15 million acres of prairie that used to cover Indiana.

The Field Museum from Chicago came out to take a look,” says Matt. “They found rare plants and insects and discovered the area was part of a migratory path for birds as well.

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The Wildlife Habitat Council certified R&D on the work that was being done on the land. The last three acres of the prairie surrounding the R&D center are still being restored, with Matt spearheading the effort. Along the way, local resident Susan Kirt got involved, and it was she who spotted the borer moth last fall and photographed it.

“She has become attached to the dune and swale area,” says Matt. “She’s taken some beautiful photographs of the wildlife found there. If you come and visit us, you’ll see some of her work hanging up in our hallways!”

Matt says there were only fifty sightings of this moth in the state of Indiana last year. This spring, when the beautiful blazing star with its tall purplish stems is blooming everywhere, look for the blazing star moth. You might get lucky.