Three Florida Butterfly Species Confirmed Extinct After Years-Long Search - Reuters

[hatrack]

EDIT

In urban areas, such as Key West which has little natural habitat remaining and is routinely sprayed, Minno said, "There are so many butterflies flying you can hardly keep track of them all. There are just swarms of butterflies sometimes. You just wonder what the heck is going on. It's just the opposite of what you would think."

By contrast, Minno said he found few butterflies in vast conservations lands without mosquito control, such as the million-acre Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park.

One of his theories is that mosquito spraying might bolster butterfly populations by killing off native and non-native parasitic wasps which feast on butterfly larvae and caterpillars. Another theory is that invasive predatory ants, such as the Mexican twig ant and fire ants, which were introduced to the area in the 1970s and are unrestrained by pesticides in conservation areas, might be overwhelming butterfly populations there.

Minno said the three butterflies that were found only in southern Florida and are now extinct are the Florida Zestos Skipper, the Rockland Meske's Skipper, and the Keys Zarucco Skipper. In addition, the Bahamian Swallowtails and the Nickerbean Blues are gone from Florida but alive in the Caribbean. Minno also expects the Shaus' Swallowtail and the Miami Blue, both of which continue to decline despite formal recovery plans, to become extinct soon. Of 120 varieties of butterflies documented in the Keys, Minno said 18 have become imperiled since the 1970s.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/29/us-usa-butterflies-florida-idUSBRE93S12I20130429

[progressoid]

1. The Miami Blue:

[postulater]

2. That's a beauty.

In Wisconsin we have a remnant population of the Karner Blue, probably related, looks similar.

The Karner requires Lupine plants, which grow only on certain types of prairie soils.

Not many of them left. I hope to see some this summer.