Conservation News
Fish & Wildlife list Miami blue butterfly listed as endangered
By Jim Waymer
Florida's top wildlife official took emergency action Tuesday to save a rare butterfly found only in the Keys.
By executive order, Kenneth Haddad, executive director of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, classified the Miami blue butterfly as an endangered species, effective Dec. 10.
The butterfly, Hemiargus thomasi bethunebakeri, once was found from Hillsborough County to Key West. Now only 20-50 adult butterflies are believed to be left, Haddad said in a press release. The tiny, bright blue butterfly lives only in the Keys. University of Florida surveys in October found the butterfly in only one spot: Bahia Honda State Park.
Biologists think fire ants, habitat destruction, aerial spraying for mosquitoes and butterfly collecting may have caused its decline.
"It is in imminent danger of extinction
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