Miami blue
| Miami blue | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Cyclargus |
| Species: | C. thomasi |
| Subspecies: | C. thomasi bethunebakeri |
| Trinomial name | |
|
Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri W. P Comstock & Huntington, 1943 |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Hemiargus thomasi bethunebakeri |
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Hemiargus thomasi bethunebakeri
The Miami blue (Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri) is a small butterfly that is native to coastal areas of southern Florida. Once very common throughout its range, it has become critically endangered, and may be the rarest insect in the United States. Its numbers have recently been increased by a captive breeding program at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
The Miami blue was described in 1943 based on specimens found near Miami. In the mid-twentieth century the Miami blue was common throughout a range that ran from Daytona Beach south around the tip of the peninsula and up to the Tampa Bay area, and throughout the Florida Keys to the Dry Tortugas. Its habitat includes the edges of tropical hardwood hammocks, scrub, and pine rocklands. The Miami blue is the only subspecies of Cyclargus thomasi found in the United States.
Miami blue adults are short lived in the wild; females may live five days, males about two days. Adults typically stay within thirty feet of their birthplace. Miami blues were known to lay their eggs exclusively on balloon vine (Cardiospermum corindum), but the last known wild population uses grey nicker bean (Caesalpinia bonduc).
The range of the Miami blue was reduced in the second half of the twentieth century due to the loss of habitat to urban development. It had disappeared from the mainland of Florida and from the barrier islands along the peninsula by 1990. It had become confined to a few spots in the Florida Keys and was becoming rare there. Hurricane Andrew appeared to have wiped out the species in 1992.
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Wikipedia