Butterflies are the essence of cool in the insect world, a favorite muse for poets and songwriters, who hold them up as symbols of love, beauty, transformation and good fortune. But providing good fortune apparently goes only one way. As humans rip apart woods and meadows for housing developments and insecticide-soaked lawns, butterflies across the country are disappearing. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced that two brown, mothlike butterfly subspecies are probably extinct in South Florida, which some entomologists say is ground zero for the number of butterfly species on the verge of annihilation.
The rockland grass skipper (Hesperia meskei pinocayo) went missing in 1999, and the Zestos skipper (Epargyreus zestos) hasn’t been seen since 2004. Several other species, such as the ebony-and-ivory-colored Schaus swallowtail (Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus) are listed as endangered, and many others are threatened, including the silvery Bartram’s hairstreak (Strymon acis bartrami).
“We look at it as a signal that we’ve got a serious problem with butterflies and other insects and pollinators here in Florida,” said Larry Williams, a supervisor for the ecological services program at the Fish and Wildlife Service. “We’re looking at this as sort of a wake-up call that we need to be watching butterflies more closely.”
At least one species of butterfly has vanished from the United States, along with the two subspecies in South Florida. Seventeen species and subspecies are listed as endangered nationwide, and two are listed as threatened.
Habitat loss is a major problem, as are bug sprays, especially those used by municipalities and homeowners to control mosquitoes. “We know that it’s becoming increasingly popular for individual homeowners to use misting systems to spray low levels of pesticides. As those become more abundant, we have to evaluate if those are contributing to the decline,” Williams said.
Source: The Washington Post, 30 June 2013
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-30/national/40292550_1_polli…
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