The Fender’s blue butterfly has fluttered away from the brink of extinction. The species, once so rare it was thought to be extinct, is no longer considered endangered, according to a January 11 ...

“The Xerces blue butterfly was the first insect in the United States that was documented to be driven to extinction by human activities,” said Corrie Moreau, director of the Cornell University ...

The last Xerces blue butterfly was collected in 1941 from Lobos Creek by an entomologist who would later lament that he had killed what was one of the last living members of the species.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed downlisting the Fender’s blue butterfly from endangered to threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. The proposal is based ...