FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Long History Of Larval Host Study
- k-england
- Jun 30
- 3 min read
By Susan Krzywicki, for Let’s Talk Plants! July 2025. Republished from Going Wild with Natives, Let’s Talk Plants! July 2015, No. 250.
The Long History of Larval Host Study
Recently, I was struck by two people who contributed to both the fields of art and science. They were pioneers in several important ways. Their acute observational skills helped us to establish the role that specific plant species play in the life cycles of specific butterfly species. This point is crucial because native plants have an underappreciated but important role to play in every garden: making a place for butterflies to lay eggs.
These two were also important because they were recognized as being high-caliber scientists by their peer botanists, and they were recognized as accomplished creative talents by their peer artists. And they were both women. You can see the illustrations of each artist’s work at the blog sites linked below.
Maria Sibylla Merian, born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1647, was a very early explorer and explainer of botanical end entomological processes. I had never heard of her until I read about her at the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s blog site, (Museum für Naturkunde Explores Maria Sibylla Merian’s Legacy and Editions of Her Metamorphosis – Biodiversity Heritage Library), where they write,
“Maria’s illustrations were important and revolutionary for a number of reasons. The observations and evidence they displayed helped overturn the prevailing theory of the time that insects spontaneously generated from mud. Additionally, Maria drew her subjects from life in their natural environments. Most naturalists of the day illustrated species from dead, preserved specimens, which contributed to a lack of knowledge about the true life cycle and origin of insects. Finally, Maria also portrayed the host plant for the species she studied and even illustrated the damage the insects left on the plants.”
James Gurney, Dinotopia fame (dinotopia.com), wrote in his blog about another outstanding nature observer: Fidelia Bridges.
The image he used to illustrate the article is of a milkweed, showy milkweed, with butterflies.
Bridges was known for her plein air illustrations and her detailed recording of plant and wildlife interactions. Gurney writes of her,
“She was inspired by reading John Ruskin’s Modern Painters, which preached truth to nature…Her early studies in watercolor and gouache…show a patient and observant eye.”
At the time of her induction, she was the first female member to join the American Society of Painters in Water Color (now known as The American Watercolor Society). She kept a studio on West 54th Street in Manhattan, where she sold her work, and also did illustrations for L. Prang & Company, an early greeting card entrepreneur.
So, there we have it! The early days of exploring how insects and plants interact. I love the idea that these two illustrated nature. But what really captured my attention was their work to figure out that certain plants played a key role in the lifecycle of specific insects. This is something that, hundreds of years later, we are just scratching the surface of.
