A shimmery blue butterfly once fluttered among San Francisco’s coastal dunes in California. But grand homes, posh museums, and urban parks ate up its habitat, contributing to the insect’s extinction. Xerces blue’s departure may be the first time a butterfly species in the United States vanished due to human development. Now thanks to research and technology, scientists have reintroduced a close relative of the lustrous species.
God created at least 900,000 different kinds of insects. (At least, that’s about how many scientists have identified.) One of those was the Xerces blue butterfly. The species died out in the early 1940s. Preserved examples display the butterfly’s blue wings with white spots.
Scientists with San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences wanted to revive the extinct species. They turned to advanced genetic sequencing.
Chris Grinter is the Academy’s collection manager of entomology. He says researchers “extract[ed] genomes from these extinct butterflies that are over 100, 150 years old.”
They analyzed genes from Xerces blue specimens in the Academy’s vast collection. Voila! They confirmed a species of silvery blues living south of San Francisco could fill the gap left by the Xerces blue.
But there was more work to be done.
The Presidio Trust and other organizations worked to restore the dunes in Presidio National Park. They planted deerweed. It is the preferred host plant of both blue butterflies.
Meanwhile, wildlife experts collected dozens of silvery blues. They marked them for identification and carefully transported them to San Francisco. Along the way to their new home, the butterflies slurped drops of fruit punch-flavored Gatorade.
In April, scientists released the silvery blues, the cousin-like relatives of the Xerces blues, into the park.
Durrell Kapan is the project’s lead researcher. He says introducing silvery blues doesn’t qualify as “de-extinction.” But he says doing so “will have a major impact” in the area.
Kapan says the silvery blue butterflies are a kind of “stand-in” for the Xerces blues. They will act “as both a pollinator and a critical member of the food web.”
Using the researchers’ markings and high-resolution images, the Academy team will track the transplanted butterflies’ movements.
Researchers also hope to copy the lessons learned about habitat renewal, says Academy executive director Scott Sampson. “The lessons we learn from the silvery blue here in our backyard could serve as a model for regenerating other ecosystems across California and beyond.”
Why? Care for God’s creation may mean reworking the land or helping to introduce—or reintroduce—creatures that have struggled or been displaced.
