The Xerces Blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces) once lived in coastal sand dunes near San Francisco, California. Last seen in 1941, the species is extinct, a victim of habitat loss caused by urban development.

A related butterfly, the Karner Blue (Lycaeides melissa samuelis), is one of eighteen butterfly species or subspecies on the U.S. Endangered Species list. Its caterpillars feed only on lupine plants that grow in scattered sand barren or savanna areas from Wisconsin to New Hampshire. Lupines grow best in relatively open (not densely shrubby) woodlands, so recent changes in land management practices, including occasional burning, are likely to help the survival of this species.

The beautiful birdwing butterfly (Ornithoptera croesus) lives in the tropical rain forest in one area of Indonesia. Like many other birdwings, it is seriously endangered by extensive logging that damages or destroys its habitat.

The Regal Fritillary (Speyeria idalia) is a prairie and wet marsh species that has disappeared almost entirely from from the East Coast parts of its range and is far less abundant than it used to be in the Midwest. Like the Karner Blue, it has very specific food plant needs: its caterpillars eat only Birdsfoot Violets, which tend to disappear when their habitat is degraded. Fortunately, both the violets and the butterflies respond well to habitat restoration (which may include periodic burning), and some populations are recovering.

See our Butterfly Resources page for more information.

Back to Butterfly Conservation.