As the single extant population of langes metalmark (apodemia mormo langei) at antioch dunes national wildliferefuge (adnwr) continues to dwindle, preventing extinction will require proactive…

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), through its Office of Research Administration, has been awarded a $228,397 Project Grant by the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8. This grant, funded under the Endangered Species Recovery Implementation program (CFDA 15.657), supports research to address the declining population of the Lange's metalmark butterfly (Apodemia mormo langei) at the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge in California.

The key objectives of the research are to: 1) quantify the genomic variation within the Lange's metalmark population, 2) assess the extent of inbreeding, 3) determine the optimal spatial scale for translocation of individuals from neighboring Apodemia mormo populations, and 4) ensure that translocation efforts focus on genetically viable donor populations. This work leverages ongoing genomics research on the Apodemia mormo species being conducted by the California Conservation Genomics Project. The grant award period runs from August 4, 2023 to September 30, 2025.

As the single extant population of langes metalmark (apodemia mormo langei) at antioch dunes national wildliferefuge (adnwr) continues to dwindle, preventing extinction will require proactive conservation practices, including translocation of individuals from neighboring a. Mormo populations. Our ongoing work, funded by the california conservation genomics project (ccgp), is generating a chromosome-level genome assembly for a. Mormo and addressing genomic variation within the species across california. Together with these ccgp-generated tools and data, our proposed research will: 1) quantify genomic variation within a. M. Langei and situate IT within that of the species 2) assess the extent of inbreeding within a. M. Langei and determine whether IT will benefit from translocation 3) determine the optimal spatial scale at which translocation should occur (from geographically near populations or more distant but ecologically similar populations) and 4) ensure that translocation efforts focus on donor populations that are genetically most viable.