I love nature, I love art, and I love organized data, so my free time means organizing nature data into great-looking infographics. My latest project is a series of state-based species infographics, specifically a visual representation of all butterfly species in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. 

A global pandemic has meant some downtime in our home, and drawing has been a good way to pass the time.  With an iPad, an Apple Pencil, and the Procreate drawing program, I’ve hand-drawn hundreds of butterfly species.  Each species has a dorsal view (top of the wings) and a ventral view (bottom of the wings) for basic identification, and lists the common name and scientific name under each species. To finish it off, I compiled all the species drawings in Adobe Illustrator to create the state outline format. 

I used data from Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. The different data sets disagree on which species are actually present in a given state. Some data include species that would be extremely unlikely to be in a given location. For example, a single data point for a tropical species might be listed in a boreal habitat and that species doesn’t have a history of migrating. But, there’s a similar looking species present at the boreal habitat. My instinct tells me that that data point is a mistaken identification so I leave it out. If there are 3 or more historical sightings or a photo sighting, I will include that species.

Many folks are familiar with the Monarch or the Swallowtails (Black Swallowtail, Tiger Swallowtail, Giant Swallowtail, etc), but there are so many unique and interesting species found in the Midwest. The Harvester is a small butterfly and is the only carnivorous species in the United States (it’s larvae eat aphids!). The Midwest also has the highest concentrations of Karner Blue butterflies, the endangered subspecies of the more common Melissa Blue. Arctic species such as Macoun’s Arctic, Northern Blue, and Chryxus Arctic make their home in northern parts of the region. 

These pieces of art are perfect for the cabin, or as a gift for those learning more about nature, or just as an interesting piece to hang on the wall to impress those data and nature nerds in your life!

You can buy posters, stickers, cards, shirts, mugs and more here:

Iowa:

Posters, postcards, etc.

T-shirts, mugs, etc.

Illinois

Posters, postcards, etc.

T-shirts, mugs, etc. 

Minnesota

Posters, postcards, etc.

T-shirts, mugs, etc.

Wisconsin

Posters, postcards, etc.

T-shirts, mugs, etc.