A bug expert believes 3 South Florida butterflies are now extinct. And at least five varieties of rare butterflies have vanished from the Florida Keys and southern Miami-Dade County in what may be an unprecedented die-off.
Entomologist Marc Minno recently conducted a major survey of South Florida's butterfly population for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"When you look at the whole United States there's only been a handful of extinctions in all of North America that we know about", Minno said. "And then here we have 3 extinctions in South Florida with another 18 that are imperiled-- I would say at least half a dozen are ready to go at any moment."
Minno says the 3 species are presumed extinct and he's recommending they be classified as such.
Environmental reporter Curtis Morgan has been covering this issue for the Miami Herald. He says butterflies act as a bellwether.
"If something is going on with butterflies disappearing there's probably other things that are happening in the ecosystem that aren't good either", Morgan said. "So, because they're colorful, and they're pretty and people like to watch them their sort of a first indicator that we'll notice of things that are going wrong."
A variety of things may be contributing to the loss of butterflies such as pollution, decreasing habitat, or even non-native predatory ants.
South Florida has one of the world's highest concentrations of rare butterflies.