Flitting among the jumbo jets and commuter airlines at one of the nation’s busiest airports is an unexpected and tiny traveler: the El Segundo blue butterfly. This dazzling creature has decided to call the Los Angeles airport home, and come summer, scientists expect to see this rare butterfly taking flight from LAX.
Caterpillars have nested in the buckwheat fields at the end of the runways, filling the fields with chrysalises that will hatch into El Segundo blue butterflies. Buckwheat is the favorite food source for these insects, and there is plenty of it to be had at the LA airport.
Researchers studying the unusual appearance have found other colonies popping up away from the airport as well, unusual for a butterfly that is not known to migrate. Some 25,000 of the El Segundo blue called LAX home last summer, despite drought conditions in the state that should have depleted their numbers.
Added to the endangered species list in 1976, the El Segundo blue is about an inch across and is a shimmery silver in color. It once populated large swaths of beachfront real estate in California, finding a favorable home in the sand dunes along the coast. Unfortunately for the El Segundo, developers also found this land irresistible, and the small residents were evicted and nearly wiped out along with the dunes.
By the time scientists recognized the El Segundo blue as a separate and distinct species, it was nearly extinct. The insect thrives not on just any old buckwheat, but on one particular type of buckwheat, known as seacliff or coast buckwheat. The caterpillars feed on the seeds and adult butterflies sip the nectar of the plant. Females lay their eggs during the summer when the plants are flowering.
With row upon row of seacliff buckwheat surroundings LAX, it’s no wonder the El Segundo blue is calling this busy travel hub home.
Featured Image from James Lee/Unsplash
