Back, in blue!
Over the last 20 years, the mission blue butterfly (Icaricia icarioides missionensis or Plebejus icarioides missionensis) almost became extinct. Mission blue butterflies are currently classed as an endangered species by the Federal Government. The upper wings of males are a vivid, iridescent blue color that is only rarely found in nature. The mission blue butterflies are of the Lycaenidae family (also called gossamer-winged butterflies), which are the second-largest family of butterflies (about 6000 species worldwide).
The butterfly, which lives ONLY along very windy hilltops in a FEW San Francisco Bay Area locations, is now making a comeback, with some human help. Some biologists and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks department began capturing female mission blues on San Bruno Mountain last spring, and released them in other areas.
The habitat of the mission blue butterfly, according to Wikipedia:
“… is restricted to the San Francisco Bay Area, specifically six areas, the Twin Peaks (1) area in San Francisco County, Fort Baker (1), a former military installation managed by the National Park Service (NPS), in Marin County, the San Bruno Mountain area in San Mateo County, the Marin Headlands (1, 2), in Golden Gate National Recreation Area (another NPS entity), Laurelwood Park & Sugarloaf Open Space in the city of San Mateo, and Skyline Ridge, also in San Mateo County.”
The reproduction of the mission blue butterfly depends SOLELY on three species of lupine:
“… the varied lupine, silver lupine, and the summer lupine. The mission blue requires the lupine to lay their eggs and nourish the larvae. Without these species, the mission blue cannot reproduce and thus cannot survive. Thus, the mission blue’s habitat parallels that of the lupine species.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“kid-friendly” version of the mission blue story is here) also has a number of programs in habitat conservation for the mission blue butterfly.
All of the efforts are paying off in more mission blue butterflies! You can read about some of the efforts and get more information about mission blue butterflies in these references (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
-Bill at
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