Xerces blue
Xerces blue | |
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Samples of the extinct Glaucopsyche xerces butterfly in the collections of the Field Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Lycaenidae |
Genus: | Glaucopsyche |
Species: | †G. xerces
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Binomial name | |
†Glaucopsyche xerces (Boisduval, 1852)
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Synonyms | |
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The Xerces blue (Glaucopsyche xerces) is a
Name
The specific name derives from the French spelling of "Xerxes", the
Taxonomy
Genetic analysis of museum specimens published in 2021 confirmed that the Xerces blue represented a distinct species within the genus Glaucopsyche, with its closest relatives being Glaucopsyche australis and Glaucopsyche pseudoxerces, with this group most closely related to Glaucopsyche lygdamus (the silvery blue).[8]
Extinction and ecology
The species was first described and documented in 1852.[9] It was characterized by blue wings with white spots.[10] The butterflies fed on vegetation belonging to the genus Lotus and Lupinus.[10] The loss of the Lotus plant that the butterfly fed on while in its larval stages is believed to be one reason for the extinction of the Xerces blue. The plant could not survive in the disturbed soils due to human development, and was no longer available to the Xerces blue.[9][10] Lupin, Xerces blue's other vegetative food source, was not suitable for the larval stages.[10]
Preserved specimens are found in California Academy of Sciences, Bohart museum, and the Harvard Museum of Natural History.[9]
Reestablishment efforts
Efforts are on to reestablish related butterflies in the Xerces blue's former habitat. The Palos Verdes blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis), which is considered a Los Angeles cousin of the Xerces, is being reared in labs.[citation needed] A new Xerces-like subspecies of the silvery blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus), which the Xerces blue was thought to be a subspecies of[11] has been discovered as well, and is being analyzed as a potential way to revive the Xerces blue.[12]
References
- . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
- ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-520-03782-3.
- ISBN 0520052498.
- ^ "xerxes | Origin and meaning of xerxes by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
- ^ "About the Xerces Society | Xerces Society". xerces.org. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
- ^ "Mission". www.guidestar.org. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
- PMID 34283930.
- ^ a b c Resources, University of California Agriculture and Natural. "And Then There Were None: Bohart Museum Remembering Xerces Blue Butterfly In Effort to Help Preserve Other Species". entomology.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
- ^ a b c d Tilden, J. W. (1956). "San Francisco's Vanishing Butterflies" (PDF). The Lepidopterists' News: 113–115.
- S2CID 236144945.
- ^ "Wild Genomes - Awarded Projects - Revive & Restore".