On a wing and a prayer

Journal article

Jeremy Thomas discusses how his efforts led to the successful revival of large British blue butterflies which played a great role in insect conservation. Limited to south-west England, the butterflies' number declined throughout the 20th century, and particularly since the 1950s. Jeremy started locating ant nests by leaving trails of cake crumbs across Dartmoor and discovered that the large blue's larvae only survived in the nests of one ant species, 'Myrmica sabuleti,' and that species was extinguishing too. Alterations in grazing made it difficult for heat-loving ants to survive, resulting in consequent extinction of the large blue. Jeremy eventually found a population on the Swedish island of Öland and brought back 250 caterpillars. Twenty-five years on, large blues reside in about 30 colonies in south-west England. The project turned out to be successful as it also has helped conservationists understand that other threatened insect species can also be conserved.

Authors: Thomas, J

• Journal: Planet Earth
• Issue: AUTUMN
• Pages: 10-11
• Publication date: 2009-09-01
• ISSN: 1479-2605
• Language: English