The research that allowed an endangered butterfly to be successfully reintroduced to the UK has finally been published this week.
The large blue butterfly (Maculinea arion) became extinct in the country in 1979. However, before this happened, Jeremy Thomas of the University of Oxford camped out with the last surviving colony to collect information that would be vital to their successful reintroduction.
Now he has published his research in Science (online Thursday).
“I was living with the last UK colony, measuring everything, including their behaviour, how many eggs they laid, the survival of individual eggs, how many caterpillars were in the plants. It was a bit like a detective story,” he says (press release).
“I’ve been saving this paper up, as it were, for 25 years.”
M. arion were known to rely on tricking ants into rearing their caterpillars, like several other species. However, Thomas’s research team reports, the large blue larvae “were more specialized than had been recognized”.
Indeed, they rely on just one species of red ant. In their paper, the researchers note that “inconspicuous” changes in grazing and vegetation led to a decline in these ants, with a knock on loss of butterflies.
Once this problem had been identified, ecosystems could be modified to correct the issue, and now the butterfly is back.
“The restoration of the Large Blue butterfly to Britain is a remarkable success story, illustrating the power of ecological research to reverse damaging environmental changes,” says David Attenborough (Daily Telegraph). “It is, moreover, a tribute to the dedication of many practical conservationists who have skillfully recreated its specialised habitat in our countryside.”
Coverage
The butterfly that came back from the dead – thanks to the red ant – Independent
The blues are back: Butterfly species reborn 30 years after ‘extinction’ – Daily Mail
Butterfly that mimics ants gives conservation clue – Reuters
See Them While You Can: Endangered Butterfly Gallery – Wired
Image: David Simcox, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK