Lotis Blue Butterfly Recovery Plan - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

difficult because the species is scarce. The feasibility of
two different methods of colony establishment will be examined:
1) transplanting adults from the extant site to new colony
areas, 2) establ ishing a laboratory colony (captive breeding)
of the lotis blue butterfly to provide stock for release to
the new colony sites. This includes releasing adults that are
reared from eggs laid by females captured from the existing
colony. The use of surrogate species to develop rearing
techniques wi 11 be considered prior to implementing this
task.
241. Obtain LBB from the existing colony for direct
reintroduction and/or to serve as brood stock.
Transplanting adult lotis blue butterflies from the
extant site to new colony areas is feasible if the size
of the population is large enough to support such an
enterprise. Critical evaluation of the ability of the
existing population to sustain such removal will be made.
Transplanting adults may also be a viable alternative if
the butterfly suffers a high mortality in the laboratory
rearing or captive breeding programs.
242. Furnish LBB stock via captive breeding program (if
necessary) .
Developing a captive breeding program for the lotis blue
butterfly may be difficult because lycaenid butterflies
have yet to be bred in captivity. Furthermore, because