''Eumaeus atala'', also known as the Atala butterfly or coontie hairstreak, is a small colorful

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of ...

. It is found in southeastern

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

(including the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...

) in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

, and the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. Its coloration and habits are unique among butterflies within its range.

History

The species was first described by the Cuban zoologist

Felipe Poey Felipe Poey (May 26, 1799 – January 28, 1891) was a Cuban zoologist. Biography Poey was born in Havana, the son of French and Spanish parents. He spent several years (1804 to 1807) of his life in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pau then studied ...

. He named the butterfly for Atala, the Native American heroine of an 1801 French novella ('' Atala, ou Les Amours de deux sauvages dans le desert'' or in English: "Atala, or the Loves of two Indian savages in the desert") of the same name that was written by Chateaubriand.

Ecology

Throughout its range, the larvae feed on a native cycad, ''

Zamia integrifolia ''Zamia integrifolia'', also known as coontie, is a small, tough, woody cycad native to the southeastern United States (in Florida and formerly in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia), the Bahamas, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico. Descriptio ...

'' (commonly called "coontie palm" or "arrowhead"), as well as '' Zamia pumila'' and other exotic ornamental cycads. In Cuba, the introduced cycad ''

Cycas revoluta ''Cycas revoluta'' (Sotetsu apanese ソテツ sago cycad, sago palm, king sago, Japanese sago palm) is a species of gymnosperm in the family Cycadaceae, native to southern Japan including the Ryukyu Islands. It is one of several species used f ...

'' also is eaten by this species. Adult butterflies take flower nectar and sometimes roost in trees. Adults fly through much of the year. The natural habitat is open brushy areas and tropical hammocks, often in pine woodlands. Many populations now exist in suburban areas containing ornamental cycads. Males keep close to a site with host plants, often forming small colonies of a few individuals. The females, however, may disperse in search of more hosts.

Description

The Atala butterfly is a great example of

aposematic Aposematism is the Advertising in biology, advertising by an animal, whether terrestrial or marine, to potential predation, predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defenses which make the pr ...

(warning) coloration throughout its life cycle. The brightly colored larva or

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

feeds on

cycads Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or ...

that contain a toxic secondary plant chemical ( cycasin) that it retains in its body for life. Birds, lizards, and other animals may attempt to prey on the larvae, pupae, and adults, but find them distasteful and learn to avoid these brightly patterned insects. The butterfly's flight is slow, unlike the swift, erratic flight of many other

Breeding

Like many

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

, male atalas have

hair-pencil Hair-pencils and coremata are pheromone signaling structures present in lepidopteran males. Males use hair-pencils in courtship behaviors with females. The pheromones they excrete serve as both aphrodisiacs and tranquilizers to females as well as ...

s (coremata) on their abdomens used in courtship; the male hovers in front of the female, wafting

pheromone A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...

s exuded from the pencils in her direction. Eggs are laid in clusters of 10-50 on the leaf tips of the host plant. Larvae feed on the leaves. Pupation is usually completed on the host plant.

Conservation

The United States population of the species was restricted to Florida, and at one time was believed to have become

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

due to overharvesting of its host plant, the coontie palm. It was not collected in Florida from 1937 until 1959. In Palm Springs, Florida, the G-Star School of the Arts has been contributing to the growth of local population numbers.Widom, Gary
"Butterfly close to extinction has been found at the G-Star School of the Arts"
CBS12 News, Palm Springs, Florida, November 3, 2014,
archive link
/ref> The Atala butterfly is now extremely common locally in southeast Florida, having rebounded to the extent of almost being considered a pest for eating ornamental cycads planted in suburban areas as native plants are being chosen for landscaping.

References

*Jim P. Brock, Kenn Kaufman (2003). ''Butterflies of North America.'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin. . *Jeffrey Glassberg (1999). ''Butterflies through Binoculars: The East A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Eastern North America''. New York: Oxford University Press. . *James A. Scott (1986). ''The Butterflies of North America: A Natural History and Field Guide.'' Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. .

BugGuide.net

External links

on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures website {{Taxonbar, from=Q3060343 Eumaeini Butterflies of the Caribbean Butterflies of North America Butterflies of Cuba Lepidoptera of the Bahamas Taxa named by Felipe Poey Butterflies described in 1832