Tiny butterfly gets protection as endangered

MIAMI – The tiny Miami blue butterfly, reduced to a few hundred survivors on islands off Key West, will be formally declared a federally endangered species today.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which last year evoked rarely used emergency rules to temporarily extend endangered protections for the butterfly, announced Thursday that the listing would become permanent.

Environmentalists, scientists and butterfly enthusiasts hope the status will focus more attention and research on the nickel-size butterflies, distinctive for the colored wings of males.

Its decline has been blamed on an array of threats, including pesticide spraying, development, exotic iguanas and ants eating the plants that the butterflies rely on for feeding and breeding. Climate change and hurricanes also may have contributed.