Imperiled Butterflies: Atala

About 150 butterfly species are found throughout Florida. 15 of those species are found only in extreme southern Florida and the Florida Keys. Continued expansion of urban development and widespread use of pesticides used to control mosquito populations have put many of these species in jeopardy.

This is part two of a seven part series covering Florida’s imperiled butterflies.

Atala Butterfly

The tiny Atala butterfly (Eumaeus atala) has rich black wings with iridescent green shimmering spots. The bright red Atala caterpuillar hosts on new-growth leaves of Coontie (Zamia floridana). Atala butterflies are able to consume the toxic cycasin resident in Coontie and because of this are distasteful to birds. The bright orange bodies of these butterflies are thought to be an aposematic warning sign.

In the last 200 years of Florida’s history, Coontie has been harvested in increasing amounts so that its starchy root could be used for human foods. Habitats for Coontie came increasingly under fire as populations in Florida swelled during the 20th century. Between starch production and increased building, numbers of Florida Coontie continued to decline. The tiny Atala butterfly followed suit.

As the host plant became harder for the butterfly to find, populations of the Atala butterfly continued to plummet. Attempts at breeding and release programs were hampered by frequent and devastating hurricanes until the butterfly was thought to be extinct in the United States in 1965.

In 1979 a small colony of Atala butterflies was discovered in Virginia Key. Since then Coontie has regained popularity as a landscaping plant and the tiny original population has begun to spread back into areas formerly inhabited by the Atala. The rebound of this species should continue as the plant is replaced back into the landscape. The story of the Atala butterfly and Coontie reminds us that life in our environment is connected in a vast web of relationships and that the removal of any thread in that web may have wide and far-reaching consequences for our precious world.

To see some fantastic photos of Atalas in all stages of development check out this link to a selection of photos by a Alata butterfly enthusiast.

The Atala butterfly was first described by Cuban zoologist Felipe Poey. The butterfly is named for the heroine of an 1801 novella, Atala ou les amours de deux sauvages dans le désert, written by François-René de Chateaubriand, the “Father of French Romanticism”.