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Post by LittleBudgie2005 on Mar 13, 2009 18:17:21 GMT 7
Xerces Blue Butterfly - The First American Lost Beauty The Xerces Blue Butterfly was describe to have blue wings with white spots and most beautiful, living on the coastal sand dunes of San Francisco. Xerces are believed to have associated with ants, as part of a symbiotic relationship in its larval stage of life. This butterfly is believed to have been the first American species of butterfly to become extinct as a result of loss of habitat, first described and documented in 1852 and last seen alive in 1941 and 1943. Another theory regarding the extinction of this butterfly is when people moved to the bay new species of ant were introduced, whom had slowly replaced the existing ant species the butterflies associated with. A new subspecies of the Xerces Blue Butterfly, the Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) has been discovered and the Palos Verdes Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis), which is considered to be the Los Angeles cousin. Effort are being made to restore habits and reestablish some of the butterflies related to the Xerces Blue Butterfly. Scientific Classification:- Kingdom:- Animalia Division:- Rhopalocera Phylum:- Arthropoda Class:- Insecta Order:- Lepidoptera Family:- Lycaenidae Subfamily:- Polyommatinae Tribe:- Polyommatini Genus:- Glaucopsyche Species:- G. xerces Binomial name:- Glaucopsyche Xerces References:-Online Wikipedia:- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerces_Blue
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