An unseen foe in arthropod conservation efforts: The case of Wolbachia infections in the Karner blue butterfly

Infection by endosymbiotic bacteria is an underappreciated threat to endangered arthropods with serious implications for captive management programs. We examined the nature of Wolbachia infection in the North American endangered Karner blue butterfly, Lycaeides melissa samuelis, as a case study. Screening for Wolbachia across the range of the species confirmed widespread infection in the western half of the Karner blue’s range. Multilocus sequence typing using six genes confirmed that the infection in the western populations is attributable to a single strain of Wolbachia. This strain was also detected in the closely related Melissa blue butterfly, L. m. melissa, the presumed source of the infection. The infection in the Karner blue butterfly was perfectly correlated with the presence of a foreign mitochondrial DNA variant present in the Melissa blue butterfly, consistent with the hypothesis that the mitochondrial introgression was driven by the spread of Wolbachia. A single individual out of 71 screened from the eastern portion of the range of the Karner blue butterfly was also infected, however this infection was attributable to a different strain. Simulation models of the demographic effects of the spread of Wolbachia infection to uninfected populations and metapopulations suggest that such an infection might further reduce already small population sizes and substantially increase the probability of population extirpation. We discuss threats to other endangered arthropods in the light of this case study and make recommendations for minimizing the impact of endosymbiont infections in conservation plans, especially those including captive propagation and augmentation of endangered arthropod populations.