ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Not listed; candidate species

PETITIONED: 2000 (North American Butterfly Association)

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: Candidate 2005

CRITICAL HABITAT: None

RECOVERY PLAN: None

RANGE: Scattered individuals in Florida's Key West National Wildlife Refuge

THREATS: Habitat loss and fragmentation due to urban development, nonnative plant invasion, mosquito control measures, public-land vegetation management (particularly for fire suppression purposes), and the potential for unethical butterfly collection

POPULATION TREND: Once common throughout southern Florida, the Miami blue is now limited to only one wild population, estimated at 34 adults in 2012.

Photo by Jaret C. Daniels, McGuire Center for Lepidotera Biodiversity